The Good, The bad, and The Blake
by The Mulberry
Summary: The mysterious new kid sweeps Pepper off her feet from the second she meets him. But with the suspicious demeanor he brings along, his friendship with none other than Tony Stark is none too bright. I felt compelled to change this summary.
1. Chapter 1

**i own nothing!**

Pepper Potts watched, disgusted, as Whitney Stane walked up to Tony and planted a kiss on his lips. You would think that she would be used to this, considering that Whitney and Tony had been dating for a month now. But she wasn't. She still felt like her heart had been ripped out every time she saw them together.

Whitney turned her head to give Pepper an evil smirk, something she did a lot. Of course, Tony and Rhodey didn't see it. Pepper hated Whitney with every fiber in her being. But then she thought that if Whitney wasn't dating Tony, she probably wouldn't hate her as much.

What did he see in her? Sure, she was pretty. But aside from that, Pepper couldn't think of any redeeming qualities. She was rude, stuck up, snobbish, and she had this "it's all about me" attitude.

Pepper's gut wrenched even more when Tony kissed her back. The boys that walked by in the hall started to drool when they saw Whitney, but then they would stop when they saw Tony. Pepper knew they were all jealous of him. She wanted to hit every single boy in this school with a sludge hammer, except Rhodey. He was the only sensible one. His crush on Whitney had passed months ago, and, believe it or not, he had a girlfriend.

Her name was Emily Browning and she was the sweetest girl you would possibly ever meet. Right on cue, Emily walked up to the group and started a conversation with Rhodey.

Pepper looked at the two couples and felt tears pushing at the back of her eyes. She felt so miserable and lonely. Didn't they notice? Didn't they care? Pepper had never had a real relationship with a guy and had always felt like a loner because of it.

She didn't know it then, but in about three days that feeling would completely go away.

The bell rang and Pepper wanted to get away from there as fast as possible, so she started walking down the hallway and didn't look to see where she was going.

A teenage boy running down the hall with a schedule in front of his face failed to notice this, and crashed into her. They fell onto the tiled hallway floor, him on top of her.

"Jesus! Watch where you're-" Pepper stopped her lecture halfway through when she saw the boy's face. Had an angel fallen from heaven and crashed into her?

"Oh, god, I'm so sorry, here." He said. The boy got off of Pepper and held out a hand. Hesitantly, she took it. He put his other hand around her back and helped her up. When he pulled her up Pepper noticed how the muscles in his arm flexed.

"Er, no... I'm sorry I didn't see where I was going." Pepper stammered. She didn't recognize him, but he looked to be around her age. **(he looks like aaron johnson, if you don't know who that is I suggest you look him up on google images right now, he has a british accent in real life but I dont want him to have one in the story)**.

"No it's my fault. I'm new here and I'm kind of in a hurry." That explained a lot. "By the way, do you know where room 217 is?" He asked her, bending down to pick up the piece of paper he had dropped. Pepper shook her head up and down.

"Actually, I have class there next." Pepper said.

"That's great!" He told her, sounding relieved. Pepper just stood there staring at him, she could not believe her luck.

"Um, shouldn't we get to class?" He asked her. Pepper blushed deeply and started walking towards her math class, Mr. Good Looking trailing behind her.

"By the way, my name is Blake." Pepper could feel her blush deepen, she had always loved that name.

"My name is Patricia, but everyone calls me Pepper." She was surprised to hear him laugh. She immediately fell in love with his laugh.

"That's awesome. Pepper. I love it." Pepper was pleased that he liked her name.

When they got to math the teacher introduced Blake to the class. Their math teacher was pretty nice and he took pity on the new student, so he let him choose his seat.

"Um..." He trailed off looking around the room. All of the girls were giggling and whispering to each other, staring at him with googly eyes. Blake finally looked at Pepper sitting alone at a desk meant for two. She was staring at him, but not the way the other girls were. She looked like she was genuinely interested in what seat he was choosing. He cocked his head in her direction.

"I'll sit with Pepper." He announced. Every girl in the class gasped and turned around to glare daggers at her. She didn't notice though, she was too busy staring at probably the best looking guy she had ever seen walk towards her with a smile planted on his face. A genuine smile. Not those fake ones people give you when they think you're a nut case. A warm smile that Pepper loved just as much as his laugh.

She had never been so lucky. And the best part was that she didn't even remember who Tony Stark was.

* * *

Tony watched, flabbergasted, as some boy bull dozed Pepper over, started a conversation with her, and then watched the two walk to class together. Pepper hadn't even said bye! She had just completely blown them off. She never did something like that. Usually she would think someone was a spy or an assassin before she even started talking to them. This guy just ran her over, and now she was showing him to his next class! If someone ran into Pepper , she usually would have yelled at them or threatened to sue.

"Bye Tony." He heard Whitney purr. He saw her strut to her next class and realized Emily had left too.

"Tony we have to get to class." Rhodey reminded him. He didn't seemed concerned at all that Pepper had just ditched them.

"Rhodey did you see that?" Tony breathed. "Pepper just ditched us!" Rhodey gave his friend an odd look as they started for history.

"Ditched us?" Rhodey asked, surprised. "You were having a "moment" with Whitney and I was talking with Emily. I can hardly say that she ditched us." Rhodey sighed and shook his head. "Where did Pepper go anyways?" He asked stupidly. Tony shook his head in disgust.

"Some idiot ran her over and then she showed him to his next class." Rhodey glanced over at Tony and saw the bitter look on his face.

Un-be-lievable.

"I can't believe you man. Pepper starts hanging out with some guy other than you or me and you are-"

"Wow!" Tony practically shouted. "I don't think that she's hanging out with him. She's just showing him to his next class." Tony said. Rhodey gave him a dirty look, but didn't say anything because they had reached their history lesson. He knew one thing though.

It was going to be a long week.

* * *

Pepper and Blake walked out of math class, smirking. Pepper was on the verge of having another laughing fit. Blake was smiling because of her laughing fit.

The math teacher was nice, but he was big. Really big. After he had written all of the notes on the board, one of the students had pointed out a mistake. He had backed up to get a better look at the board.

When he had started backing up, Blake had made beeping noises under his breath, only loud enough for Pepper to hear. **(if none of you get that, its like when a giant truck is backing up and its beeping so people will get out of the way. i realize how mean this is, and yes, he has the humorous mean streak that Tony lacks.)**

Pepper started laughing, loud. You could hear her laugh all the way down the hall in the boys bathroom. The teacher had obviously noticed her laughter and was smart enough to realize she was laughing at him. He had immediately given her detention. Then, Blake had started laughing. He wasn't laughing at the teacher though.

When Mr. Munn (the math teacher) had given Pepper detention she had stopped laughing instantly. Her smile had been wiped clean from her face and she looked like she might be sick. Blake thought it was pretty funny and couldn't help but laugh at the face she was making.

"You too Mr. Fletcher!" Mr. Munn roared. The look on his face made both teens burst out laughing and they earned themselves another week of detention.

As they walked out, Blake asked Pepper what her next class was.

"Phys-ed." A smile spread across his face.

"Well it's you're lucky day. We get one whole period to make fun of the P.E. teacher together." A similar smile spread across Pepper's face and they started walking towards the gym. She wondered what Tony would think of her hanging out with Blake. Pepper snorted when she realized that he could care less. He had a lot to worry about. He had to defend New York City as Iron Man while trying to maintain an acceptable grade point average. He also had a girlfriend... Pepper pushed those gloomy thoughts to the darkest corner of her mind and tried to replace it with one that was also bad.

"Don't forget, we have detention after school today and the rest of the week." Pepper sighed. She was wrong though. That wasn't a bad thing.

* * *

Tony watched the guy that had ran her over walk over to Pepper as she was getting books out of her locker. He said something that startled her and she dropped the text book she had been holding on her foot and yelped. Whats-His-Face started laughing and Pepper punched him on the arm.

_That's exactly what she does to me..._

"Yeah so I wont be able to make it to the movie. Sorry Tony." Whitney's voice snapped Tony out of his trance. He looked down and saw her staring up at him with a bored expression.

"It's fine." He assured her a little too quickly. She gave him an odd look but proceeded to peck him on the cheek and strut down the hall to the limo that was awaiting her outside. Tony's eyes searched the hall until he saw Pepper and that weirdo with her. He said something that made her laugh and Tony's hands clenched into fists. Without thinking, he marched over to the two.

"Hey Pepper. Do you want to go to the movies tonight?" Tony asked out of the blue. She hadn't even noticed that he had walked over. Tony hadn't asked Pepper to do anything in weeks. Pepper was amazed that he wasn't doing something with Whitney. She didn't know if an opportunity like this was going to come again, so she agreed immediately.

"Sure I'd love to." Tony's face brightened and he completely forgot about Whats-His-Face, until Pepper reminded him.

"Tony, this is Blake. Blake, Tony." Pepper introduced the two teenagers. She didn't notice it, but they were practically having a silent show down. Blake would not break eye contact with Tony and Tony wouldn't either. Blake had a crooked smile on his face while Tony looked dead serious.

"Nice to meet you." Blake said politely and put out his hand. Tony took it warily and shook it. Blake's grip tightened and Tony followed suit.

Tony's grip loosened when he lost feeling in his hand.

"Nice to meet you too." He said carefully, making sure his voice was even. Blake let go of his hand.

"Tony me and Blake have detention. It's a long story. So do you want to meet at my house, like around 4:00?"

Tony smiled.

"Sure I'll see you then." He said. Blake smiled and glanced over his shoulder at the clock hanging in the hallway.

"We better get to detention, I really just want to get it over with." He said. Pepper agreed and hugged Tony goodbye before she trotted off with Blake.

Tony just stared like a moron. Pepper was in detention, with _him!?!_ Tony noticed how every girl Blake passed practically melted away, and wondered if he had the same effect on Pepper.

But why should he care if he did? He had Whitney, Rhodey had Emily, and Pepper had...

No one.

Tony hadn't realized it before, but she probably felt a little left out. Tony sighed and shook his head.

_Rhodey should start paying more attention to her... _He thought stupidly.

* * *

Detention went by slowly. But when it was finally finished, Pepper got to wonder just one more time that day if she had been picked by God to be the luckiest person in the world.

"Wow." Pepper breathed.

"Yeah." Blake agreed. "Wow." They were standing in the Tomorrow Academy's underground parking lot- a place Pepper never really went into because she didn't have a car.

Or a Harley Davidson.

"Do you have a license?" Pepper asked in awe.

"Sure do." He answered.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen." Pepper nodded in approval. She kept staring at the bike. She knew that she shouldn't be so intrigued by a stupid motorcycle when her best friend had a super suit of armor.

But still... She had always thought they were cool.

"Do you need a ride home?" Pepper was surprised by the question. She had never ridden on a motorcycle, but had heard enough gruesome stories about people who had just worn t-shirts and shorts and the horrible injuries they received from crashes.

"I don't have a helmet, or a jacket, you should wear a leather jacket-" Pepper was about to tell him all about bike safety, when he opened the seat revealing a compartment. He pulled out two helmets and a leather jacket. **(btw: im not sure if motorcycles can do that but this one can) **

"You can have the smaller helmet, and the jacket. I have my own." He held up the jacket he had been holding since they had gone to his locker after detention. Pepper didn't know what to say. She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to say yes and get on the back of his motorcycle. But what if they got in a wreck? She could get hurt. And she barely knew this guy. Sure he was funny, charming, gorgeous, he was probably pretty smart considering he was going to The Tomorrow Academy... But she had just met him.

"It's 3:40." He informed her. "Don't you have a date to go on at 4:00?" He asked with a sly smile. Pepper shook her head frantically.

"Not a date! Were just friends! Tony and me. Just. Friends." She assured him. He snickered but Pepper realized he was right. It would take too long to walk home and her Metro card was out of money, and she had no cash on her so taking a cab or a bus was not an option...

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

"Sure I'll go, but you need to go _slowly._ I don't feeling like losing my legs."

**thats chapter one. if you guys like it review and tell me. i know it seems that pepper and blake became friends fast but it's supposed to be that way, and besides, if you were the new kid and you knew no body, and someone was being nice to you dont you think you would start to hang out with them, like almost immediately? and pepper was lonely at the time so... **

** blake is a gentleman to the ladies, as you saw when he ran pepper over. but he has one of those funny mean streaks that you see in some people. i know it kind of seemed like he had a multiple-personality-disorder in this chapter, but he was new and was just trying to figure things out. he got his confidence when he started talking to Pepper.**

**(he doesnt like tony if you havent figured that out) ohh and don't start telling me you have to be 18 or something to drive a motorcycle. i really don't think it would work if i made Blake 20. do you agree?**

**tales of suspense has not happened. gene might be in this story, im not sure. and if he is it will only be for a little and he'll most likely be a comic relief.**

**TEN REVIEWS BEFORE NEXT CHAPPY GOES UP!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I know i said that I wanted ten reviews and blah blah blah but I wanted to post this cause im going to New York City tomorrow. so just review and stuff while im there and hopefully ill get some information from the place that Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey have their adventures in!**

**I don't own Iron Man Armored Adventures- but I wish I did.**

Who knew that riding a motorcycle could be so fun? Pepper was having such a blast, that she didn't even notice that Blake made the ride ten minutes longer than it should have been. The wind against her face felt good, and as she sped away from The Tomorrow Academy she felt as if she was leaving all of her troubles behind. Emily, Whitney, Rhodey, Tony... They didn't even exist.

Her arms tightened around Blake's chest as they sped up, she could _feel_ his abs. Pepper felt on top of the world. Her adrenaline was pumping as fast as the time Tony had scooped her off of the ground in the Iron Man armor after being chased by armed thugs. Pepper let out an excited laugh and she loosened her grip on Blake when she gained her confidence.

Blake noticed this. He sped up and her arms tightened again. He chuckled and stopped at a red light.

"Having fun?" He asked her. Pepper shook her head up and down.

"Yeah. I-" That was all she could manage before he hit the gas and sped by honking cars and trucks. Pepper was holding on to him so tight that she was sure that there would be a bruise there. It was like being on a really long roller coaster. Pepper watched as the buildings sped by her in a blur. She became nauseous and shut her eyes tight. She felt the bike turn and slow down as they went on her street. Pepper opened her eyes when the bike came to a complete stop.

She let go of Blake slowly, not sure if he was going to speed up again. She took her helmet off and ran a hand through her hair. What a rush.

"That was amazing." She said. Pepper slid the leather jacket off and handed it to Blake. She got off of the bike and thanked him for giving her a ride home.

"No problem." Blake replied. His eyes were fixed on something behind Pepper and he then added under his breath "I think you're boy friend might have a problem though." He rode away on his motorcycle, leaving a puzzled Pepper to wonder about what he had just said. She didn't have to wonder long though. Pepper turned around to face the front of her house and saw a bewildered Tony standing on her front porch steps.

He looked pissed.

They just stared at each other for a moment, Pepper wasn't sure what was wrong with him. Was she late?

"What's wrong?" Pepper finally asked after standing there for three minutes letting Tony give her the death glare of the century.

_"What's wrong?" _He repeated thickly. "What's wrong! Pepper you just rode on a motorcycle with a stranger!" He threw his hands up in the air for emphasis. Pepper stared at Tony. She knew that she probably shouldn't have gotten on the motorcycle with Blake, he _was_ sort of a stranger. But Tony was over reacting.

"Tony I'm fine. Besides it's not like we got in a wreck or anything. He's really good at driving it. And it was _so_ fun! You should totally try it! He went so fast-"

"Pepper!" Tony interrupted her blabber. "You _could_ have gotten in a wreck! I can't believe you could be so stupid!" Tony yelled. Pepper looked hurt. She felt hurt. What was wrong with him? Then Pepper realized.

Un-be-lievable.

"So the one time I hang out with a guy other than you or Rhodey you become-"

"WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! I don't think that you're hanging out with him! He just gave you a ride home!" He responded to her accusation the same way he had with Rhodey's. He didn't even realize what they were accusing him of. Pepper puffed up.

"Yes. I am hanging out with him. And why do you even care?" She snapped. Tony looked around, hoping an answer would come to him. Why did he care? She didn't give him time to answer though.

"You're jealous." Tony rounded on Pepper when she said that.

"Jealous? Please. Why would I be jealous of _you_ when I have Whitney?" He exclaimed. His eyes widened, he hadn't meant to say that. It was supposed to have been a thought bubble. Pepper felt like battery acid had been thrown at her chest. How could he say something like that? His words cut deep into her soul, she had never felt so betrayed. Tears filled her eyes and she stormed past Tony into her home.

"You're right. You should just go to the movies with _Whitney._" Pepper spat her name and then she slammed her door shut and ran up to her room, sobbing.

Tony stood on her doorstep, ashamed of himself. He had never meant to say that to Pepper. It was the meanest thing he had ever said to her. After a few minutes of hoping she would open the door and forgive him (which she didn't), he walked home.

Pepper watched Tony walk home from her bedroom window. She had stopped crying, but she still felt hurt. Tony had never said anything like that to her. She felt the sting of his words in her heart. He was right of course. Why would he be jealous when he had Whitney? Whitney was tall, beautiful, and she was a charmer. Pepper wasn't any of those things. Sure, she knew how to use a pistol, but what good was that?

She flopped down on her mattress and let herself properly wallow in self pity. Why had Tony been so mad at her if he hadn't been jealous? Did he have a bad past with motorcycles? Pepper just sighed. Maybe he had just been worried that she would have gotten in a crash or something. He was dating Whitney, but he and Pepper were still friends. He had to care about her, even if it was just a little bit. Pepper's sadness turned into anger

How dare he say something like that to her! Pepper was better than Whitney. So much better. Pepper could beat the crap outta Whitney if she wanted to! Pepper had helped Tony with Team Iron Man so many times! She had practically discovered Mr. Fix. She had gotten Ivan Vanko's family just in time to save Tony's life. She and Rhodey had helped Tony pass the Drama exam, they had helped him cheat! By her self, Pepper had devised a plan to get into Stark International and get the armor back. She had helped Tony out of Project Pegasus by running into the facility in a bear costume! She had discovered Moses Magnum, had told Tony how to get the Living Laser upset, and so many other things that Tony didn't seem to appreciate.

Whitney had saved Tony's life like, what, twice? Maybe? Pepper was so angry. Whitney didn't deserve Tony! And you know what? Tony didn't deserve Pepper!! Pepper was better than him, and she couldn't help but letting her mind to wander to Blake.

He seemed to like Pepper. He was funny, handsome, charming, and he seemed like a pretty nice guy. He also rode a motorcycle, something Pepper found very attractive. And Pepper realized that she liked Blake too. A lot.

* * *

"Man Tony, you messed up big this time." Rhodey stated. Tony had just told him about his and Pepper's fight. Tony ran his hands through his hair and sat down on his bed.

"I know. But she was on a motorcycle Rhodey! With that Blake kid!" Tony told him for the fifth time. Rhodey rolled his eyes.

"So what? I still don't see the big deal." Rhodey said. Tony looked up from the bed.

"What do you mean? Of course it's a big deal! She rid on a motorcycle with Blake!" Tony practically shouted. Rhodey smiled. How could Tony be so dense?

"Jealous." Rhodey coughed. Tony glared at him.

"Excuse me?"

Rhodey looked around the room, finding the ceiling very interesting. When Tony looked away he said, "Jealous." Very quietly. Tony stiffened.

"What?"

Rhodey shrugged his shoulders. "I think some body's jealous." He finally said loud enough.

"Am not!" Tony objected.

"Are too." Rhodey teased.

"No!"

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes."

"NO!"

"No."

"YES!" Tony accidentally shouted. Rhodey snickered at his friend and Tony threw a pillow at him. Rhodey put up his hands.

"Fine you're not jealous." He said in defeat. Tony would never admit to being jealous about Pepper- especially when he was dating Whitney. That gave Rhodey an idea. Tony was lost in thought and looked like he had forgotten where he was.

"Hey Tony?" Rhodey asked innocently.

"Hmm?" Tony asked, he wasn't even listening.

"I kissed Whitney, is that okay?" Tony shook his head up and down. Rhodey started laughing and left the room- Tony didn't even notice.

**Will Tony realize he's jealous? Will Pepper ever forgive Tony? Will Pepper and Blake get closer? Will Whitney be an ass? Are there any grammar/spelling mistakes in this chapter? Will I ever stop asking questions? Read and review to find out!**


	3. Chapter 3

**i got back new years eve and i read the review for A New Begining and it seems we both did the "will i stop asking questions?" thing. sorry about that didn't realize you did that too.**

**I dont own Iron Man: Armored Adventures **

_"When I grow up, I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies. When I grow up, I wanna see the world, drive nice cars, I wanna have b-"_ Pepper hit her alarm clock so hard she thought she had broken it. What time was it? She turned her head groggily and saw it read _6:30_.

With an annoyed sigh, she got out of bed and put her clothes on. Today was definitely not a day she wanted to go to school. She had kept waking up in the middle of the night due to horrible nightmares. They were each the same thing- different versions of her fight with Tony.

In one version after Tony had told her that he wasn't jealous of her because he had Whitney, he had laughed evilly and he hopped on a dragon that had the head of Whitney Stane. He had rode off laughing while the Whitney-Dragon-Thing breathed fire all over Pepper's house.

In another Whitney had known that Tony was Iron Man. After the fight Tony had announced that Pepper was being replaced in helping Team Iron Man. He built a suit for Whitney and they flew around together holding hands and kicking bad guy butt.

In the last nightmare, Tony had thrown an invitation to his and Whitney's wedding at her in the form of a sheet of metal. When Pepper stepped into the church she was struck by lightening. People that walked past her would drop pictures of a drop-dead-gorgeous looking Whitney in a beautiful wedding dress on her.

Pepper pushed the dreams out of her mind and went downstairs to have a bowl of Count Chocula **(best cereal ever)**.

While she was munching on the marshmallows and chocolate grain things she checked her phone and was surprised that Tony had called her three times. She snorted, at least he was trying to make an attempt to communicate with her. But she wasn't going to forgive him that easily.

Pepper walked to school with a dark cloud looming over her head. Her normal light-hearted skip was replaced with the sound of her dragging her converse. She was dreading school. She could always hang out with Rhodey but she was mad at him too. He had been ignoring her almost as much as Tony had been and he wasn't as nearly as thick as Tony, so he should have noticed how much they had been ignoring her. Then Pepper thought of the cause of her and Tony's fight.

Blake.

Pepper wondered if he would talk to her or if he had found some guy friend to bang chests with. She desperately hoped that he would. Pepper had never felt so lonely. She needed more friends.

When Pepper reached her locker she decided just to put all of her books in her backpack so she didn't have to go to her locker for the rest of the day and she could avoid anyone who might try to hang around her locker (anyone being Tony or Rhodey).

"God. I hope you don't fill you're backpack like that everyday." A voice from behind Pepper startled her. She turned around and saw Blake standing there with an amused expression on his face.

She cast him a dirty look. "That's the second time you've snuck up on me. How do you do that?" He shrugged his shoulders and Pepper rolled her eyes.

"I don't know about you, but the bell just rang. _I_ have to get to class." Pepper murmured. From the corner of her eye she could see Tony hanging around his locker with Whitney and Rhodey. Whitney was on him like white on rice but Tony wasn't looking at her. To Pepper's delight, he was staring in their direction.

Pepper's stomache twisted up in a knot when Whitney finally got Tony's attention and they kissed. It wasn't one of the short small kisses that usually happen between them. It was a tender and passionate kiss that made Pepper want to barf.

_Stop! Stop thinking about him! It's over! You lost, get over it._

Pepper knew this was true. She also knew that staring at them was like self inflicted torture. So she turned around to face Blake, pushing Tony out of her mind.

"Is something wrong?" He asked her, noticing her facial expression.

She tried to smile up at him, but it came across as one of those cheesy Barbie smiles. "No. I have to get to class." She repeated. "I'll see you later." Pepper walked to Science. Tony was in this class. Happy, Rhodey, Whitney, Emily, Gene, _and_ Tony were in this class. She was so not in the mood to be in a class with the poop group. Tony and Rhodey had practically left her for dead, Whitney was a turd monkey, Gene was a jerk, **(remember tales of suspense has not happened, and in this story pepper doesn't like gene)**, Happy was annoying, and Emily... Pepper hadn't really found anything wrong with her yet but she was not going to give up. The only person in the entire school she felt like being with was Blake.

Pepper walked into Science earlier than she usually did. Only a few people were sitting down. Deciding that it was better than the alternatives, she sat down next to Vanessa Levine. She had a nose ring, three eye brow piercings, a tongue ring, heavy black eye liner and mascara, a tattoo of a dead dove on her left arm, green and purple hair, and she only wore black.

She seemed... nice.

When Pepper had gotten her books out she looked over and saw Vanessa staring at her with red eyes. Literally. Contacts? Pepper wasn't so sure. No one ever sat down next to Vanessa, so she was obviously surprised.

Pepper looked away and tried her best to ignore Vanessa-she just wanted to get through this one period. But how can you ignore someone when they are looking at you with red eyes? C'mon, seriously.

Pepper turned to her and took a deep breath. "Listen I need to sit here today I don't know if I need to sit here tomorrow or the next day or the next day but I really just need to sit here because it is one of the only free seats and at the other ones I won't get any work done and I-"

"Calm down." Vanessa said in a kind voice that Pepper could not believe came out of her mouth. "You can sit here." Pepper blinked.

"Are, are you sure? Because I can move if you-"

"Just, just stop talking." Vanessa said in an annoyed tone.

Vanessa rolled her eyes at Pepper before turning and facing the front of the room. Didn't see that coming. Pepper was sure she had been going to get a knife out or something. Vanessa didn't have the best reputation and was known for being a little on the scary side.

Most of what Pepper had heard had been a lie. This girl seemed a bit irritable and maybe a little odd, but other than that she seemed okay. If Pepper learned anything in school that day, it was don't judge a book by it's cover.

She wondered how many people would be staring at her today- maybe she would set a record. She allowed herself one glance back and had to hold back a laugh.

_Everyone_ was staring. Most of the students were in their seats now and every single one of them was staring at Pepper. What a bunch of retards. Was it really that big of a deal? She was sitting next to someone different for once, and they were all staring at her as if she had grown a second head. Her eye's slid over to Tony's desk and their eyes locked. One emotion was clearly visible in Tony's eyes. Confusion. That set Pepper off. Did he really not understand why she was sitting somewhere else? Was he that oblivious?

She turned around to face the front of the room and the teacher walked in. The period actually went pretty well. Because Pepper was not talking through her science class, she payed more attention and she understood everything very well. When the bell rang Pepper cheerfully got her stuff together and she walked out of the room- not even bothering to glance in Tony's direction.

Blake was already sitting in math. Pepper sat down next to him and let out a sigh of relief. Now, all she had to get through was drama and she would be done with her classes with Tony.

Blake noticed. "What's wrong?" Pepper gave him her best fake smile.

"Nothing." She lied.

"Right..." Blake said skeptically. Pepper was a horrible liar. She always had been. She had never really needed a reason to lie. Except , of course, for the fact that her best friend was a super hero. But you know, desperate times call for desperate measures. And usually it was only those times that included Tony a.k.a Iron Man that she had ever lied.

And this time included Tony.

"I'm fine. Seriously." She insisted. "What's wrong with _you?_" She asked suddenly. Obviously, there was _nothing_ wrong with Blake but she needed to change the conversation.

To Pepper's surprise, his eyes darkened and he looked away from her.

"There is nothing wrong with me." He dead-panned, scaring Pepper shitless. Okay, something was wrong. Pepper just hadn't noticed it before.

"Blake..." Pepper murmured. "Are you sure?" His eyes met hers and Pepper knew that there was definitely something wrong.

The mask of darkness melted away to reveal the Blake that Pepper had met the day before.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm sure." He smiled. Mr. Munn walked in, effectively silencing all of the students and stopping their conversation. Pepper's eyes lingered on Blake, even after Mr. Munn had started writing the notes on the board. He seemed normal. It was as if his dark moment hadn't even happened. Pepper didn't think about his weird mood swing twice, though she should have.

The rest of the day went uneventful. Pepper managed to avoid Tony, Rhodey and the rest of the poop group. Detention was boring but she was with Blake so it wasn't that bad. He had to go to some after school thing, so he couldn't give her a ride home. As Pepper walked out of The Tomorrow Academy, she heard someone behind her.

She didn't even have to turn around.

Pepper knew she couldn't get out of this one- her house was seven blocks away. Tony fell into step beside Pepper and said nothing for a few minutes.

Can you spell awkward?

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "I didn't mean that. I was mad. You can ride motorcycles with whoever you want to."

Pepper knew that he meant it. His eyes were filled with sadness and hope. He looked desperate. She knew that he honestly wanted her forgiveness and wanted the two to resume being friends.

But could she do that? Whitney was just sucking that friendship away from them like an over sized vacuum cleaner. Tony had tried to reach out the day before, and Pepper decided that she didn't like ignoring him anymore than she liked being ignored. That was what really made her forgive him. The feeling of being ignored- she had experienced that feeling a lot lately.

"It's okay." Pepper sighed. "I know you didn't mean it that way." Pepper wasn't so sure about that. Comparing Pepper to Whitney was like comparing a coffee mug to a wine glass- there was just no contest. But Tony could be an idiot, and maybe he had worded what he had wanted to say wrong.

Tony's face relaxed as if he had been planning the conversation to go like this.

"Thanks Pepper."

"Just tell me one thing." Pepper said. "Why did you freak out on me like that?" Tony looked away, embarrassed.

"So, Rhodey and I found something really weird last night while I was in the armor." He told her, hoping it would change the subject. Of course, it did.

"No way!" Pepper shouted, her eyes widening. "What is it? Is it about Magnum? Did the Black Panther come back? Did he? No no no no no! You found the location of the next ring! Is it on the moon? Is it underwater? Maybe it's in Atlantis! That would be so cool! Maybe the pyramids in Egypt are temples and all of the booby traps are part of the test. Maybe you have to go to the burial chamber of each pyramid and you have to..."

Tony relaxed as Pepper's babble became just a humming sound to him. She had definately forgiven him. He had been worried that she would just go off with Blake and dump him. He had thought that he might be replaced.

"Tony?" He heard her say his name.

"Yeah?"

Pepper sighed impatiently. "What did you find?"

Tony nodded.

"We think we might of found some kind of weapons factory." He informed her. She gave him a look that said _keep talking._

"Well we're not sure. We've been observing the building for about a week now." He started. "Moving vans pull up to the building twice a day. When the first one comes, a few people carry in crates. The second one comes about eight hours later and two or three people carry out one massive crate." He finished. Pepper gave him a skeptical look.

"How is that suspicious?" She snorted.

"Because it was Mr. Fix's headquarters."

Pepper gasped and gave him a dirty look.

"What?" Tony asked defensively.

"How come I didn't know about this a week ago?" She asked through clenched teeth. Tony's eyed widened when he realized he made, yet, another mistake. He laughed nervously.

"Uhh, It never came up?" He said as if it was an acceptable excuse. Pepper glared daggers but didn't say anything.

**i know i know.... it took a while for this to be posted. i promise ill **_**try**_** to make the next one go faster. i suffer from extreme laziness. anyhoo i also know this wasn't the best chapter you have ever read. it was more of a filler. i have had major writers block but there were a few things in this chapter i wanted to get down. i know pepper can hold a grudge- but i needed her and tony to make up quickly. dont worry they will still fight and everything. Hmmmm..... i wonder what made Blake so mad? if you want to find out you have to review...**


	4. Chapter 4

**okay.... so.... heres the thing. i **_**thought**_** i had this story planned out in my head. but i have changed my mind so many times (seriously, whats going on in there?) that at this point i have the next two chapters planned out... and thats about it. **

**So heres whats going on: im winging it. I have no idea where this story is going. Alright have fun!**

**i dont own anything! (except for Blake.... hes all mine!)**

Tony's grip on his locker tightened even more (if that was possible) when Pepper burst into bubbly laughter from across the hall. Another joke. Did he ever run out? How many jokes could one guy tell? Tony was lucky to have said a few good one-liners in front of Pepper but Blake was like a comedian. You'd think that after two weeks a guy would run out of jokes. But ohh no, not Blake Fletcher.

But he didn't care. Tony had a girlfriend. Whitney. Whitney Stane. She was beautiful and charming and... and, well... well Tony knew that there were other good qualities but he just couldn't think of any at that given moment.

"That's ridiculous!" Pepper giggled, walking past him without even glancing in his general direction. Blake murmured something under his breath that Tony couldn't catch but Pepper definitely heard it because she had another laughing fit. Tony stifled an annoyed sigh and walked to class. Little did he know he was being watched the entire time.

* * *

Pepper could not pay attention in class. Math was probably her worst subject to begin with, so it wasn't helping her at all to be sitting next to Blake Fletcher. Pepper thought that he was more fit to play Edward Cullen than Robert Pattinson was. In fact, he was a better Edward Cullen than Edward Cullen was! Pepper was trying to take the notes, but she kept glancing over at Blake. To her disappointment he just kept taking notes and he didn't look over at her.

He wrote perfectly, which was sort of weird because he was a guy. In fact, he had neater hand writing than Pepper did. Even weirder, he only looked up at the black board three or four times the entire period. The notes were extensive, and he managed to get them all down without looking up at the board a gazillion times. Well, Tony could memorize thousands of numbers and codes for the armor, so memorizing some high school notes was probably nothing for some people.

After the bell rang, Pepper added to her mental list of reasons he was awesome was that Blake was a good student. The first day of school he definitely got on Mr. Munn's bad side, and probably a few other teacher's, but the entire math class today he had just been taking notes. And he was a boy, so, realistically he was bound to get himself in trouble.

That was one thing that Pepper had never been able to stand about Tony- he just didn't care for school. She realized that he was a billion-air and would inherit Stark International when he turned eighteen, but going through school was like a rite of passage. Well, in Pepper's mind it was. But she knew that tons of American teenagers were quitting school at age sixteen and turning around to work at a McDonald's Factory for the rest of their lives.

But deep down, Pepper was just afraid of what would happen when Tony quit school to go run Stark International.

Would he forget about her? He wouldn't forget Rhodey- those two were brothers. But Pepper? She helped out with Team Iron Man, but Tony wouldn't run down to Rhodey's house to get the armor when he had his very own sky scraper he could most definitely hide an armory in. There was just no way Pepper could pop into Stark International and help Rhodey at the com systems.

And what about hanging out? Tony wouldn't have time to hang out what with running a multi-billion dollar company. Pepper fumed internally when she thought that Whitney would probably be working there, just because of her dad. Her and Tony would be working together everyday, they would get married in some giant castle that Whitney made her papa buy for her, go on a honeymoon in the Caribbean, and have two gorgeous children that would grow up to be just as successful as their mommy and daddy.

Tony and Whitney would live their lives to the fullest, while Pepper would be, in all likelihood, working her butt off at some college so she could become an FBI agent. (Or SHIELD, she was a bit iffy after seeing what kind of a person Nick Furry was like to work for. But ya know, what are you gonna do?)

Pepper would get a decent pay, and would find an apartment in Manhattan to live in. She would find some nice guy and they would start a family together, and day after day Pepper would go to work and receive just enough money to get by. Just like her parents had, Pepper would end up getting divorced and have to raise her children by herself. She eventually would have to quit her dream job so she could take care of her children, and work at a supermarket where the most exciting thing that happened was a "Clean-up on isle nine!".

Pepper's future was looking bleak.

In her frustration, it took her seven tries to get her locker open. Thinking about her possible future and Tony had pissed her off. She was so upset, she didn't even notice Tony walk up to her.

* * *

It took all of Tony Stark's willpower not to laugh at the expression on Pepper's face. She was angrily shoving textbooks and various items of the sort into her locker and looked like she was ready to punch something.

"Uh... is everything okay?" Tony asked hesitantly. She glared at him angrily out of the corner of her eye and snorted her reply.

"I'll take that as a no..."

Some part of Tony was afraid that she was mad at him again, but he hadn't done anything wrong this time. At least, he didn't think he had. With Pepper you could never be too sure.

"Look, Tony." She said turning towards him and shutting her locker. "I just... have a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Pepper looked away guiltily. She could not tell Tony that she had just been thinking about her future, because that would lead to him asking her why that made her so upset.

"Uh..." Pepper was saved by the bell. Well, not technically saved... she was late for gym and their gym teacher was very strict about being late. She let out a small squeal and started running towards the gym.

Tony couldn't help chuckling before walking to his own class.

* * *

Blake was unbelievably athletic. Pepper always thought the definition of athletic was Happy Hogan, but not anymore. The first day of gym class he had dominated the basketball court, making every 3-pointer he shot. During indoor soccer, he had been goalie and the apposing team hadn't made a single goal. Now, during volley ball, he was spiking the ball over the net literally every time it went over to his side.

All of the girls were giggling and gossiping in clusters as they watched Blake play. His team and Happy Hogan's team were the last in the tournament. You could either watch and cheer your friends on, or shoot at the six basketball nets lining the gym.

Which one do you think the majority of the high school students chose?

Happy served the ball but Richard Smith dove just in time to hit it up in the air. Blake then spiked it to the other side. It hit the floor with a satisfying thud, ending the game.

Of course, Blake's fan club ran over to him after and started giggling and congratulating him for an "awesome game". Happy, on the other hand, wasn't as giddy as Blake's groupies were. He took the volley ball, and popped it. Yeah... Happy was so used to getting beat in the Academic department, that when it came to sports, he just had to win. Of course, their P.E. teacher wasn't too impressed with this, and made Happy do one hundred sit ups. He then told him he was going to have a week of detention and he was going to have to buy a new volley ball for the school.

As she was changing into her every day outfit, Dakota Lewis, probably the most annoying girl in Pepper's entire school, approached her.

"It's only because he feels sorry for you." She sneered. Pepper looked up at her with a question mark on her face. Dakota rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Blake. He only even talks to you just because he feels sorry for you. I just wanted to make sure that you understood that."

Pepper rolled _her_ eyes and started tying her shoe laces. She was used to comments like these, and she was able to ignore them pretty easily.

"And why would he feel sorry for me?" Pepper wondered out loud.

"Because, half the school isn't even sure you pee sitting down."

Hmmm. That was a new one. Pepper tried to think of something in response, but just couldn't.

"Dakota..." She sighed. "Is this just a show? Or is this you're real personality?"

"Of course it's my real personality!" She scoffed back. "Hasn't anyone ever told you to be yourself?"

"Anyone who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you worse advice."

Dakota gasped and turned around to say something in response, but Pepper was already on her way out of the locker room, smirking all the while.

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art?"

"Yes Tony for the fifth time! Emily said you Pepper and Whitney could come too. Please? I hear they have a new exhibit about the history of-"

"Rhodey!" Tony sighed. "Not everyone loves history like you and your girlfriend!"  
Rhodey gave him a dirty look. "Her dad gets in free through his company. Please Tony? She was really excited-"

"Fine! I'll go."

Rhodey flashed a triumphant grin. Pepper walked (well... skipped) up to them and gave them her normal perky smile. "Hey guys what's up?"

"Well..." Tony smiled in Rhodey's direction. "It sounds like we're going to check out where Rhodey is getting married." Pepper's mouth formed an O shape and Rhodey turned scarlet.

"Very funny." He gave Tony a playful shove. "No, Emily invited us to go to the Metropolitan Museum. Do you wanna come?"

Pepper thought about this. "Sure. Hey can Blake come?" She asked excitedly.

Tony twitched, but neither of them noticed it.

Rhodey shrugged his shoulders. "I'll ask her sixth period."

"Don't have to." The trio heard someone say. They saw Emily coming up to them with a warm smile on her face. "I don't see why he can't, Pepper."

Another twitch.

Pepper smiled brightly in her direction, thanked her, and ran off to find Blake, leaving a pissed off Tony in her wake.

_Wait a minute... why do I even care? Whitney is coming! Get a grip on yourself! _ Whitney chose that moment to join the group.

"Hey Tony." She said, pecking him on the cheek. "Whats going on?"

"Well... It sounds like-"

"Emily invited us to the Metropolitan," Rhodey quickly interrupted, "wanna come?"

Whitney smiled her movie-star smile up at Tony. "As long as you are going..." Tony shook his head up and down. After arranging the date and such, they each parted their own ways to go to their third period class.

* * *

"The Metropolitan?" Blake snorted as he slid into his leather jacket. Pepper nodded her head persistently.

"Pleeeeeaase? It'll be fun!"

He glanced up at Pepper with a smirk. "Who else is going?"

Pepper took a deep breath. "Tony, Rhodey, Me, Tony's girlfriend Whitney Stane, Rhodey's girlfriend Emily Browning, and if you say yes then obviously you. Emily's dad gets in free or something so we can all get free tickets so you don't have to worry about paying. It's usually pretty busy so we might be in line for a while. Did you know around the holiday's they get like 50,000 people a week? A week! Seriously how many-"

"Pepper!" Blake laughed. "Be quiet I get it. I only asked who was going!" Pepper blushed hard, mentally scolding herself for her rambling. She didn't think he meant it as an insult though, because he had laughed. Usually when someone was fed up with her talking they would yell at her or just tell her to shut up.

"So... are you coming?"

Bake studied her for an uncomfortably long time. Pepper wondered what he was thinking. How can you not when someone was staring at you like that?

"Okay." He said. "I'll go." Pepper was about to tell him when they were going and everything (Tony told her free period), when he said something that was completely unexpected.

"On one condition." He said with a wry smile. Pepper cocked her head to the side, waiting for said condition.

"I get to drop you off at you're house. On my bike."

Pepper blushed even deeper (possible?). She hadn't ridden on Blake's bike since that first day she had allowed him to drop her off after detention. Why did he want to drop her off? Why didn't he just roll his eyes and treat her as if she was a pile of poopy like most of the people she met? There were so many pretty girls in The Tomorrow Academy that should quit school and go on Americas Next Top Model or Project Runway. Why not them? Why her?

Well, Blake was hot. And he was offering her a ride on a Harley Davidson, also hot. She didn't need to be asked twice.

* * *

Tony walked out of The Tomorrow Academy with a pretty good attitude. No supervillians, he had done nothing wrong to get yelled at by Roberta (scary as hell), his grades were pretty steady, he had gone thirty days straight without getting a detention- something he would have to brag to Rhodey about.

That attitude was turned upside down when, to the left of Tony, out of the school's garage came Blake Fletcher. On a Harley Davidson. With Pepper on the back. Wearing his jacket. And helmet. Ohh god.

"Hey Tonnnny!" Pepper shouted excitedly and waved like a psyco with one arm (which looked strange because the sleeves of on her arms went well beyond her hands and it looked like her wrists were flipping all over the place) and had the other rapped around Blake's torso. The bike sped up and Tony saw what was about to happen light years before his body could react. With a loud sloshing sound it flew through a puddle that was conveniently located next to him.

He had the blessing of being drenched from head to toe in the filthy, muddy, most likely rat peed in, water.

Tony Stark slowly made his way to the Rhodes's house hold. He sighed loudly when he remembered he still had to take care of the weapons factory somehow. He couldn't bust in there as Iron Man, what if they were doing some sensitive work and Tony caused a nuclear explosion in the middle of Manhattan? Not good. And then there was always the off chance that there was no weapons factory but he doubted it.

When Tony got to the armory, he decided to put on the Stealth Armor and do some investigating. He flew over to the large building and hacked into Stark Internationals main data base and searched the records to see if they had sold anything to any suspicious characters lately. Surprisingly enough, they _had._ Well... truthfully it wasn't that surprising (this was Stane we were talking about here) it's just that Tony had mainly done this to distract himself from Pepper, not really thinking he'd find anything.

Stark International had recently sold the schematics to the nanobot project that they had taken from Project Pegasus when Harcov had failed to give Stane the Iron Man armor schematics. Yikes, for 2.5 billion dollars. To a man named...

Eric White. Tony knew that name. He remembered it from... somewhere. Maybe someone his dad went in business with? Frustrated he attempted to bring up a picture of the man.

Zero results.

He showed history of Stark International, and it seemed that White hadn't purchased anything from them... _ever._ He searched Project Pegasus also, but still, nothing. Okay, so, Tony had to dig a little deeper to find out who this man was and why he needed the nanobots.

After searching through every file, every company, organization, anything he could think of, Tony turned to his last resort.

Google.

There was a few results for Facebook, a video on youtube of a guy named Eri_k_ White downing a pack of mint flavored mentos and drinking a gallon of Pepsi (Tony found this very amusing), and things of that sort. He even found out that Eric was the sixty-seventh most popular guy name in America. Huh, who knew?

* * *

"Just tilt your head to the left and squint, then you'll see it."

Tony obeyed, but still couldn't see the "secrets" and "mischievous look" in the girl's eyes. Dressed in a small white gown, the young blond was sitting on a marble bench with her legs dangling off the edge. Rhodey insisted that there was more to the painting than met the eye... but all Tony could see was a seven year old sitting on a bench.

"Remind again why we came here...?" Tony asked, bored. Rhodey glanced over to the lady's restroom and answered, "Because Emily wanted us to come. I can't believe you don't like it here. It's so big! Didn't you see all of the sculptures and artifacts?"

"I'm a science genius, remember? History and what not really aren't my thing."

"Yeah, but you're forgetting, you're obsessed with the Makluan Rings. Don't you think that has even a little to do with History?"

"The Makluan rings, _you're forgetting,_ are a form of technology. Technology, science. Do the math." Tony grinned. "Ohh wait, you can't. You're too busy with history-"

"Shhh! They're coming back!" Tony looked over in time to see Whitney and Emily walking out of the girls bathroom laughing. See? Now why couldn't Pepper do that?

"So where do you guys want to go next?" Rhodey asked. The two girls looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"Ummm... let's go to the Greek and Roman section." Emily suggested. "I hear they have a new piece of work."

"Wait a minute." Tony said. "Where's Pepper?" They all looked around, but could not see the spunky red-head.

Emily made a suggestive face. "I bet she's with Blake." Whitney mentally approved of this but didn't see the annoyed expression on her boyfriend's face.

* * *

"She's beautiful..."

"Er... _she _is naked. And I'm pretty sure _he, miss, Mr., _and _it_ were all naked too."

Pepper rolled her eyes. Boys were so immature.

The nine foot tall square marble slate stood high above Blake and Pepper's heads. A beautiful women caressing a grape vine that wrapped around her waist and her left leg was staring down at them with big eyes and long hair that fell in heavy waves past her thighs. There was a crown of leaves placed delicately upon her head and her lips were pursed in such a way that it was hard to tell whether she was smiling or frowning.

It was the eyes that told her story.

There was pain. A lot of pain. Betrayal, heartbreak, sadness, torment. It was sad to look at. It was _hard_ to look at. To see another human being in that kind of pain... it was hard...

In the back round there was a field, and tall mountains in the distance with a setting sun. Or was it rising? She had the perfect look of innocence about her, she was just so pretty. And yes, like Blake had said, she was completely naked. But they were looking at a Greek carving from around 200 A.D. and back then... well let's face it. Posing naked for a picture was just the same as saying "Cheese!" for one.

"In fact.." Blake started, looking around wearily. "More than two thirds of the artifacts in this room, are full of naked people."

"Oh shut up. Let's go to the Egyptian Art." Pepper's eyes grew wide with excitement. "Ooh! I hope they have a sarcophagus!" She gasped loudly and grabbed Blake's hand. "Maybe it'll have a mummy in it!" She started pulling him in the direction of said exhibit.

"NO RUNNING!" The security guard screamed at them from the other end of the room. Pepper stopped dead in her tracks and her face flushed with embarrassment. Blake laughed out loud and Pepper smiled sheepishly up at him.

"Let's just go." He laughed. Pepper looked down and realized he hadn't let go of her hand yet, but she wasn't going to be the one to tell him. They started to walk to the Egyptian section when they heard a voice calling their names from behind them. When I say _their _names and _a_ voice, I mean Tony was calling Pepper's name, completely ignoring Blake's presence and the fact that they were holding hands, and Whitney, Emily, and Rhodey were calling _both_ of their names.

"Hey guys, where have you been?" Rhodey inquired.

"Yeah..." Emily said mischeviously, glancing from Pepper to Blake. "Where have you been?" Pepper turned scarlet but Blake didn't seem to notice. He just looked around the room.

"Well, here. Pretty much." He looked at the four of them. "We were going to the Egyptian exhibit if you guys wanna come. This one is a little too... exposed."

Tony stared at Blake a little dumbstruck. Tony had painted the image of Blake being this overly arrogant jerk. Well too bad for him, he was _nice._

"Sure..." Emily answered noting all of the naked ladies and put one hand over Rhodey's eyes.

* * *

Pepper was all over the Egyptian exhibit. There were hieroglyphics and sarcophagus's and mummies inside of the sarcophagus's. Usually she wasn't that much of a history fan, but for some reason the idea of having your brain picked out through your nose seemed appealing to her. She would barely talk to anyone because she was too busy reading about Egyptian artifacts.

Whitney and Emily were chatting quietly together while looking over some pottery and Rhodey was emersing himself in the ancient history of the Nile River. Tony was bored out of his mind, staring blankly a Pharaoh's headdress.

Why did he agree to putting himself through this torture? Tony could fight The Maggia, The Mandarin, an eighty foot tall robot and a man dressed as a cat, but he could not fight the horrific evil of boredom.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

Tony glanced over and saw Blake step beside him with his arms crossed (much like himself) giving the headdress a scrutinizing look. He immediately dropped his arms to his sides and put them in his pockets. "Yeah, I guess."

Blake was a good three inches taller than Tony. He stood up straight as if someone was pushing a board up against his back, unlike Tony who always tended to slouch. His shoulders were broad and he was very tan, in contrast to Tony's pale skin.

There was an akward silence between the two for a while, until finally Blake broke the ice.

"So I hear you're a big science geek. This must suck for you."

"Geek is a kind of harsh way of putting it." Tony told him, a little offended. Blake chuckled softly, lightening the mood of the situation. He cleared his throat and stole a glance at Tony.

"School must get pretty boring for you. You know, with you having a higher I.Q. than all of the teachers." This made Tony laugh but he considered his words.

"Yeah I guess I do. I already know most of the stuff they're teaching me. _I_ could teach it better than they do." He muttered shaking his head in disgust.

"Sooo.... do you play any sports?"

"None in particular."

Awkward. Tony knew that Blake was just trying to start a conversation and somewhere inside of him he appreciated that.

"So what kinds of things did you invent at Stark International?"

Tony wasn't expecting this question.

"Uhh, you know. Usually an advanced piece of technology or something that would help people."

Blake kept staring at him anxiously.

Tony saw the curious look in Blake's eyes but, was there something else there? Suspicion? Why would he be suspicious of him? It was most likely Tony's natural dislike of the guy, even though he was making an effort to be something close to friends.

"Like what?" He pressed further.

"Well... before the, err... _accident,_ me and my father designed a giant laser called an Earth Mover. It was designed for archaeological purposes." Blake turned away from him and stared at the Egyptian head piece, apparently fascinated by it. Then, almost _too_ casually, he asked, "Do you still invent things?".

Something snapped inside of Tony. Warning bells went off. He could not continue this conversation with the way it was headed. The path it was going down would lead it right to Iron Man.

At that moment, the small amount of trust that Tony had been building with Blake in this conversation instantly shattered into a million different pieces that even young prodigy Tony Stark could not fix.

**Sorry. Just- I'm so sorry it took so long. I'm on a roll now so the chapters should come out a little faster (hopefully!).**

**Sorry for any grammar/spelling/whatever else there is errors. it's late. i'm tired. and poopish.**

** you fricken readers better review cause ya know how much you like getting reviews.**


	5. Chapter 5

**i own nothing la la la laaa laaaaaa**

"I don't trust him."

"Well, I don't really think she cares if you trust him."

The young genius made a face at his best friends remark. He typed something into his computer and sighed loudly.

"There's something off about him Rhodey."

"I couldn't tell."

Tony smiled wryly. "Of course you couldn't tell. You were neck deep in statues of naked ladies."

Rhodey shot back, "Tony did you ever think maybe that for the past three weeks something has been off about _you?_"

Tony laughed."_Me?_ What's off about _me?"_

"Well, for one thing, you're looking up a high school kid's profile when there is a possibility that there could be a second Technovore." Tony considered his friends words.

"What if he is the reason there is the possibility of another Technovore?"

"Tony! Are you serious?" Rhodey scoffed.

"Yes I'm serious!" Tony looked over the computer and became agitated. He sighed dramatically and leaned back in the chair.

"What?" Rhodey smirked and walked over to Tony's small laptop. "Did Blake's file not back you up on your accusation?" Rhodey read over the file and had the decency not to rub it in Tony's face. It read nothing out of the ordinary. Blake used to live in Vermont... Mom's a spinal surgeon... Dad's a college professor. His parents split when he was seven and he lived with his mom in Burlington until recently she got a job promotion and they moved to Manhattan.

"Ah ha!" Tony yelled triumphiantly and pointed to a section of the document Rhodey had yet to read.

Hmmm... It seemed that right after they moved, Blake mysteriously disappeared for two days. He returned home telling his mom (and the cops) that nothing happened and that he was fine- they just needed to trust him. Seeing that Blake was okay and that he didn't have any drugs, weapons, etc etc on him the police told his mother that teenage boys did this type of thing all the time and he was showing signs of rebellion.

"Okay, I agree that's kind of weird but you have to remember that you disappeard for a few days after the plane crash. You weren't doing anything bad, you were getting an implant in your heart."

"Rhodey, you just proved my point. What got me to the lab that gave me my implant?"

"The Iron Man armor... but-"

"Do you think that it's in my file that I'm Iron Man?"

"I hope not."

"So obviously the two days Blake disappeared he was doing something that involves Eric White and the nano bots. I told you how he kept asking me weird questions at the Met. He knows something. You really think it's just perfect timing that he showed up at _our_ school, not even a week after we discovered the weapons factory?

Rhodey was stunned. Was it just coincidence with the timing of Blake's arrival and the weapons factory? Or was it something else?

Deciding that it wasn't worth being late for school, Rhodey snatched the computer out of Tony's lap and gestured towards his discarded backpack

"Time for school genius. We can do this later."

With an over exaggerated sigh, Tony slowly got up out of the chair, grabbed his pack, and left the house with Rhodey.

"I just don't understand how she can trust him. She doesn't even trust Gene, and there's nothing wrong with him!" **(personal joke there. im going to remind you for the umpteenth time because three of you emailed me confused about this that TALES OF SUSPENSE HAS NOT HAPPENED!!! STOP THE EMAILS!) **

Rhodey had to hide his smirk. The only reason Tony was obsessed with Blake was because Pepper was obsessed with Blake, and Blake and Pepper were growing closer...

Behind the two boys a cracking sound was heard, and they could hear someone scream. They instinctively whirled around and what they saw blew their minds out of their fricken teenage skulls.

Rhodey ran for cover and got out his earpiece while Tony ran into an ally and transformed into the super hero that the city knew and loved.

* * *

_"..Put my hands up, they're playin' my song! The butterflies fly away!"_

"Ugh." Pepper moaned from her place under three comforters. "Please just shut up."

_"Noddin' my head like yeah. Movin' my hips like yeah."_

"Myley! Be quiet!"

_"I got my hands up, they're playin' my song, and ya know I'm gonna be okay."_

"I swear..."

_"Yeaaaaaaaaaah! It's a party in the USA! Yeaaaaaaaaaah! It's a party in the US-" _

_ SMASH!!!_

Pepper looked at the broken bits of the destroyed alarm clock she had chucked across the room. She hadn't meant to break it, she had been half asleep when she threw the darn thing. With a sigh she got up and shuffled the remaining pieces under her bed where hopefully her father wouldn't see them. Before taking off for school she made a mental note to buy herself an alarm clock that wouldn't play annoying Hannah Montana or Pussy Cat Dolls songs when it woke her up.

While walking to school Pepper heard the distinct sound of lasers three blocks over. Deciding that it very well may be Tony and he could use some of her Pepper Power (hee hee), she ran over to the fight.

What she saw confused her.

Technovore. Technovore... _Technovore!?! _

Tony _fighting _Technovore!?! How was this even possible? Rhodey said they had destroyed it...

The blueprints! Eric White must have somehow recreated another Technovore! Pepper muttered a word under her breath that if her father had heard he would have raced her to the nearest church for forgiveness.

Technovore II growled and thrust one of it's extensive arm-thingies at Tony/Iron Man. Tony attempted to block it using his shield but failed miserably and was thrown into the nearest building, creating screams from the crowd of people that had gathered and sending glass and concrete flying everywhere. With a shaky hand Pepper took out her earpiece and turned it on.

"T-T-Tony?"

No response. She saw no movement in the smoke billowing out of the hole in the building. She heard the buildings fire alarm go off and thanking god saw Iron Man climb out of the hole.

"Tony." Pepper sighed with relief. She heard a groan over the com systems and shook her head sadly. "You're not doing so hot..."

"I realize that!" He snapped back. Another roar warned them that their conversation would not continue uninterrupted. Tony shot into the sky just in time to miss a blow to the side from the creature, and it's arm (?) smashed into the same apartment, hitting a gas tank, causing a horrible explosion.

Pepper could _hear_ the screams before she even saw the smoke (well, _more _smoke). In thirty seconds flat people were running out of the burning building, going out the fire escapes, and hopping out of first, and yes, in their desperate attempts to escape, second story windows. A minute later Pepper saw the fire truck coming and could hear the siren. Her relief was momentary as Technovore threw Iron Man into the concrete and sent the fire truck ramming into a telephone pole, causing that to fall over and the long wire to spark and sizzle and twitch on the ground.

To her horror, Pepper saw a little girl the fifth story up, screaming and pleading out the window for help that was not coming. Both sides of the rode were blocked by either a live electric wire or two tons of brick and concrete. She looked over to Tony and Technovore and saw that Tony had somehow scattered the thing into a million little nano bot pieces, but it was slowly coming together. It would take no more than five minutes for the entire thing to mold itself back into the monster that it was.

Pepper expected Iron Man to save the girl, but soon realized that he could not. Her heart split in two when he saw Tony pulling their dear friend Rhodey out from under a giant slab of concrete that seemed to have fallen on him. Rhodey's leg was oozing blood and yellow fluid and Pepper saw something white and pointy sticking out of his shin. A bone?

She gagged.

"No!"

Pepper heard the horrible scream that sounded like it had been ripped from someones soul. Her gaze reflexively shifted to her left where the sound had been heard. A women that looked to be in her mid-thirties was staring up at the building with a tear-streaked face and her mouth half hanging open.

"My baby!"

Pepper gasped and realized that the child in the window was the women's.

"Tony!" She screamed into the head-piece.

"Pepper! Rhodey's hurt!" She heard him choke out. He sounded like he was about to cry and Pepper had to hold back tears herself, she could see from the other side of the street that Rhodey's arm was bent at an unhealthy angle and there was blood leaking from his temple.

"But there's a girl!"

Iron Man looked up and felt part of him break when he saw the little girl half dangling out of the window, not able to breath in the room that was quickly filling up with smoke.

He had to get Rhodey to a hospital. Technovore would be whole again in less than three minutes and if he went to go get the girl he would surely lose his best friend. He would lose his brother.

Pepper knew what he was thinking without even seeing his face. She knew Tony, and the silence over the radio was enough. Pepper looked over at the women again and what she saw changed something inside of her.

Her eyes.

They were the same as the women's in the carving. Pain, sadness... it was all there. Pepper could not let another person suffer that kind of pain. It was inhuman to stand by and watch. That little girl up there had her whole life ahead of her. She deserved to grow up, to graduate, get married, to have kids of her own. The group of people that had been watching the fight had either scattered, or had been crushed by falling debris. Pepper could see bodies through the lingering smoke, and realized that the only way this little girl would be able to do all of those things, was if Pepper Potts was to go and save her.

"I'll do it." She said.

"What!?" Tony half screamed into the speaker. "You are _not _going in there Pepper!" He could see her from across the street and could tell that she was not going to listen to him.

"I have to. That little girl has her whole life ahead of her."

"But Pepper," He muttered. "You have you're whole life ahead of you too."

Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, Pepper ran into the burning building.

_"Pepper! _Stop!" Tony ordered over the com speaker.

Stepping over debris and avoiding sharp objects, she answered, "I can't. I need to save that girl. This is finally my chance to prove myself to Team Iron Man."

"Pepper," He begged. "Please, don't do this to me. Don't make me choose-"

"Do _not_ come in after me Anthony Stark!" She yelled into her head piece. "Rhodey is hurt and he needs help!"

Tony was torn. Split in two. Tears pushed at the back of his eyes when he realized that he very well may lose a member of his family today. His brother was bleeding to death in his arms, and his sister just ran into a building that was sure to burn to the ground.

Of course she felt guilty, Tony had to take care of Rhodey and now Pepper was running into a burning building like some psycho path.

_But it's not psychotic,_ she thought to herself, _it's the right thing to do._

"I'm sorry Tony, but I have to do this."

"Pepper don't you dare-"

She turned the radio off before he could say anything more.

Pepper ran up the flights of stairs and silently wished she could be this athletic in gym class. She covered her mouth when dense smoke filled her nostrils and she crouched so cleaner air could fill her lungs. She opened the door to the fifth floor hallway, kicked open the third one to her right, desperately hoping that she was remembering correctly which window the little girl had been in.

"HEY!" She screamed. "IS ANYONE IN HERE!?"

She heard a whimpering sound and ran into what must have been a kitchen. Low and behold, there was a little four year old, cowering in a corner from the fire on the other side of the room. Pepper ignored her own safety and ran over to the child, scooped her up into her arms, and turned around.

She only succeeded in lighting her bow tie on fire.

With a scream, she dropped the her and smoldered the fire on her torso. She saw her collar bone was a disgusting shade of red but ignored it and resumed being a hero. She picked up the child and ran out into the hallway. She screamed and Pepper realized that the poor thing had a long laceration that ran from the top of her thigh all the way down to her knee.

The cut was jagged and the edges of her skin flapped sickeningly apart, showing way more muscle and fat than Pepper had ever been meant to see.

Knowing very well that this was going to suck, Pepper stood at the top of the staircase and could hear the roaring fire behind her and could smell a dangerous amount of smoke. Holding the kid tightly to her chest she started down from the fifth story.

The trip back down to the first floor was a hellish nightmare that Pepper will never forget.

She couldn't hear herself think because the girl was screaming in so much pain that Pepper was sure the sound barrier had been violently ripped apart by the toddler.

Blood was squirting all over her pink dress from the toddler's wound, and she hoped her dad would buy her a new one.

Pieces of tile and brick were falling around here steadily and she knew that she could be hit by one and be knocked out- she was a goner if that happened.

The child she clutched grabbed her arm on the third flight, and dug her nails into her skin. Pepper could feel the stinging and felt warm liquid running down her forearm.

She somehow made it to the bottom floor, and had to remind herself that the building she was in wasn't structurally sound at this point and was going to collapse on top of her so she would pick up the pace a little.

A _crash!_ behind her confirmed her worst fears and she glanced back just in time to see the building falling in on itself, the fifth floor not able to hold up the twelve above it any longer.

She made a bee-line for the exit and propelled herself out the front door in the nick of time, sadly it was not enough. Glass and brick showered down upon Pepper so hard that she hoped she wasn't going to bleed to death herself. She bent over so she would take the worst of the damage and so the little girl was protected. Somehow she only received a few blows to her back (none to her head, thank god) and one to her right leg. But in the back of her left leg she could feel a chunk of glass sticking out of it.

She willed herself not to cry, reminding herself that there was a pre-schooler counting on her and that she was trying to be a hero.

With a huff, and a puff, Pepper Potts stood up, holding the child that she had just rescued from the clutches of death. Proudly, she walked over to the mother who was talking hysterically to a fireman and telling him how her child was in there and how he had to save her (even though it was pretty obvious at this point that the building had collapsed).

"Excuse me." Pepper said. Their conversation stopped abruptly and Pepper held up the sobbing girl. "Is this you're kid?"

The woman's dark brown eyes scanned over the child without a hint of gratitude, and she answered, "No, that is not my child."

Pepper could feel the tears start to pool in her eyes. She quickly handed the fireman the little girl. He just gaped at her, not sure if to thank her or to tell her it was the dumbest thing he had ever seen.

Pepper was lead over to an ambulance in a trance. A thin blond haired lady with big green eyes took the glass out of her leg and sewed it up, she cleaned and bandaged her arm where she had been clawed, and kept telling her that everything was going to be okay.

She mis-inturpreted her crying.

She had failed. Pepper had not saved the girl she had intended to. The lady's child was dead and Pepper knew that when she came to terms with reality, part of that woman was going to die too. She had failed. Once again, she had only succeeded in failing.

She was vaguely aware of the screams and sobs, the people and bodies being dragged out from under the wreckage. Only slightly aware that Technovore had disappeared and that Tony had indeed taken Rhodey to a hospital.

_God, please let Rhodey be okay. Please..._

The hell that was going on around her was suddenly taken note of when Pepper saw a man being dragged into the ambulance as they tried to revive him. Pepper saw his body pulse every time they shocked him. A man was gripping his head and standing out side of the ambulance truck, looking at the man, waiting for him to come back.

It was no use.

He was gone.

Pepper had never been meant to see this kind of destruction, this kind of pain. Her heart just couldn't take it. As a defensive reaction, her mind shut down so she could not comprehend what was going on around her any longer. She stared blankly ahead of her. Her body slouched, no longer having the will to hold itself upright anymore. Her face showed no emotion because there was none. The lady who had dressed her wound kept trying to bring her back to reality but it was just not working.

"It's alright, I'll take her to a hospital," In the back of her mind Pepper heard a panicky deep male voice say.

"No no." Another voice said. This time a women's, a bit startled. "I've got this under control. She's just in-"

"Shock. Yeah I can tell." The male voice again. He sounded impatient now, annoyed. Pepper couldn't really understand what happened next, but she ended up in metal arms and was flying up in the air.

"Pepper?"

* * *

Tony was scared. Not scared about her physical injuries, no, Pepper was stable in that area. She stared at nothing as he rose into the sky with her held tightly against him. Her lips quivered but other than that she showed no sign of emotion. He was scared that his best friend was going to spend the next few months recovering in a mental hospital.

"Pepper?" He repeated softly. Tony stopped flying and opened his face mask. When Pepper saw his face, _Tony's_ face, she came back to reality and fresh tears spilled from her eyes. He relaxed but Tony knew that something was still wrong. A million questions were running through his head. _How did she get out? Did she leave right when I flew Rhodey to the hospital? And what about the girl she was trying to save...?_

"What's wrong?" He asked her softly. When it became apparent that she could not speak through her sobs, Tony flew Pepper to the armory so she could sit/lay down. He carried her over and sat her down on the control chair and then he un-suited.

He pulled up a chair for himself and sat there patiently- waiting for his female friend to find her voice. After a few minutes of staring at him with wide teary eyes, Pepper calmed down.

"I failed..." She whispered. Tony bit his lip anxiously, trying to be patient but failing himself.

"You didn't save her?"

Pepper's eyebrows furrowed and she kept staring at Tony. She shook her head sadly.

"If by _her_ you mean the woman's daughter, than no. I didn't save _her._"

Tony was smart. Sometimes, too smart. So he immediately knew that she meant something else when she said _her._ Then, he was struck by his 12,765th epiphany.

"Did you save someone though?"

Pepper held back more tears. Stupid Tony. Why did he have to know everything?

"I..." Pepper swallowed so she wouldn't cry again. She hated crying. It was a sign of weakness. Her dad had told her at a young age that crying will get you nowhere in life, and that if she wanted to be a SHIELD agent when she grew up, that she had to get tough and learn how to deal with her emotions a different way.

"A different girl." She choked. Tony stared at her in disbelief.

"Pepper! You still saved someone! It would have been no different if you had saved the child you had intended to!" When she still looked unconvinced he put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up so she would see his eyes. "You still saved a life."

Pepper burst into the tears that she could hold back no longer and threw herself into Tony's arms.

_ These wounds won't seem to heal. _

_ This pain is just too real._

"All those people!" She cried. "So many people died! I saw them! A-a-all of them! They're gone forever and there's no way we can bring them back! Rhodey was hurt! He was hurt _badly!_ I couldn't help them- any of them. I could only help one damn toddler who's parents probably died in the fire!"

_ There's just too much that time cannot erase_

She buried her head into his chest and Tony gently stroked Pepper's red hair. Shushing her and telling her, just like the women in the ambulance had, that it was going to be alright.

_ When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears_

_ When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears_

_ And I held you hand through all of these years_

Pepper knew though that it was not going to be alright. That women's child was gone. Gone forever, and Pepper couldn't do anything about it.

_ But you still have_

_ All of me_

**(blinks in surprise and looks up at chapter.) Is that really _my_**** writing? Where the hell did that chapter come from! Pepper was supposed to see Blake on his bike! Not witness the death of dozens of people!**

** Well ya know, I guess thats close enough.**

** (the lovely song at the end is **_**My Immortal**_** by **_**Evanescence.**_** Great band. Great song. If you listen to it while reading the end (hee hee) you can really get a much better feel of the way I was trying to write.**

** P.S. Doom and destruction really aren't my thing. Tell me how that worked out up there.**

** P.P.S. In the song, the third time you hear the chorus (the part I wrote down) they use heavy guitars and stuff. I like it that way too but I was using the slow part up there.**

** P.P.P.S. Um that whole passage up there I hadn't planned on writing until it was there. Woops. My bad. Or good? You tell me.**


	6. Authors Note Thingy Merbobber

O the glory of being on author on Fanfiction, being able to twist plots until they rip, and no one being able to tell you "That sucked!" to you're face.

I just wanted to talk to you about some things... mainly the chapter I posted the other night... I know it was sort of random, and truthfully I know it doesn't really go with the whole happy go lucky, Tony's jealous theme of the story (the "flow" I think someone called it). I promise though, it helps me out for the next two chapters and I am super excited to write them. And truthfully with the way Blake has been acting *cough cough* and the naked lady carving (the eyes?) coupled with the fact that I ended the previous chapter with Tony's little epiphany, I guess you could say it was kind of foreshadowing this.

When I started writing that chapter, for some reason (?) when I hit the battle of Technovore II and Iron Man I sort of lost control of myself. One moment Pepper was going to see Blake, ditching school for some unknown reason on his motorcycle and the next I was writing her running into a burning building giving Tony an ultimatum. I had not planned on writing that chapter, it came from one of the more disturbed and dark corners of my brain (I'm telling you there are plenty of them).

It would probably fit better in a darker and much much much deeper story on here (you know which ones I'm talking 'bout) with "Woah!" written all over it.

But since _I_ am the author and it is _my_ story, I'm going to keep the chapter up. No voting or blah blah blah. I really like it. I think it's one of the better chapters I've ever written.

I liked putting a song in there, I may do that more often.

And remember this is only my 2nd story on Fanfiction... so I'm still sorta new at this.

I also wanted to say (well, type) that I had planned on a MAJOR plot twist somewhere in here... just not that major. And I wanted to tell (type) you that I will try to keep the story from twisting much more (let's face it, there is going to be one more twist somewhere).

It will stay "flowish" and even from now on... I do have _most_ of it planned out in My Brain (yeah that's capitalized). This was too big to put on the beginning of the next chapter and I had so many P.S.'s on the last one I figured I should cut my losses (plenty) and just put up a few and write an extensive author's note.

I also wanted to point something out. Before I posted this chapter I had around 20 reviews. I now have 31 and counting, so I figure, "Hey, it got them to review, I must have done _something_ right."

Right?

Ohh, how the chapter seemed a bit insane (crazy, not cool)... I am literally in the process of losing my mind (long story).


	7. Chapter 7

**i dont even own the pile of poop in my back yard.**

**wait...**

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah I can go get you a book or something."

"Guys, I told you already I'm fi-"

"You look tired did you sleep okay last night? I can tell one of the nurses to get you more pillows or softer blankets."

"Yeah man you have bags under your eyes."

"I slept alri-"

"It's cold in here."

"No it's not-"

"You know Tony I think you're right. Should I turn the thermostat up?"

"No, I'll do it."

"It's not col-"

"Jesus, they call this food?"

"STOP BABYING ME!" Rhodey shouted. Pepper and Tony gave him startled looks. "Look, I appreciate you guys taking care of me and everything, but really. This... this is just ridiculous." Rhodey indicated toward the stacks of books he had, magazines, the shocking number of stuffed animals via Pepper, the laptop, the bags of candy, and the numerous amount of "Get Well!" balloons that were floating obnoxiously around the room.

Tony and Pepper had been giving him gifts and spending all of their free time with him the past week. They would bring him food (pizza) and movies to watch on his DVD player. The day before Pepper had actually criticized one of the nurses on how often she checked on him. The nurse had told her the only reason she wasn't checking in on him four times a day was because she and Tony were in there twenty-four seven. She also reminded Pepper that when Rhodey checked out of the hospital that _she_ was going to have to clean up the mess the three of them left behind.

That had Pepper bugging the hospital to hire more janitors.

Tony was mid-step, heading toward the thermostat in the corner of the room. He looked around and took note of everything they had given him the past four days and realized that they definitely were over-doing it. "Yeah I guess you're right..." He muttered.

Pepper scanned the room and also realized that this was a little much. "Sorry, Rhodey."

Secretly the two of them just wanted him to be happy. So if that meant giving him some space... then so be it. Tony took the blame for Rhodey getting hurt (even though that made no sense at all), and Pepper was angry with herself for delaying Tony from bringing him to the hospital. So to make up for it, Tony and Pepper were doing everything in their power to make Rhodey feel comfortable, because for the next three months he was going to be walking around with crutches.

Tony had felt even worse when Roberta had come running to the hospital in a frenzy, barely able to keep herself under control when she heard the news. Her usual calm demeanor had been replaced by a panicked, overwhelmed mother who's only son had almost been crushed by falling debris. Rhodey's father had been alerted and had called Roberta ten times an hour, asking her questions about their hurt son. "How is he?", "Is he awake?", "Did you hear any news?".

After the silence between the three became too much, Rhodey cleared his throat and asked, "So Tony, have you found anything new?"

Tony shook his head sadly. "No. Nothing."

Before Tony had flown off to take Rhodey to the emergency room, the billions of nano bots that had made up Technovore II had tried to morph back together, but for some unknown reason failed. They would pile on top of each other and tried to become one, but their attempts were in vain because they just wouldn't bond. Tony had noticed a wave run through the mound of tiny bots, and then they all had escaped down the nearest manhole. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. He figured that maybe they had broken down due to bad programming (or his awesome Iron Man power had weakened them).

When Tony and Rhodey had turned around that morning walking to school, they had seen the ground splitting open (causing the cracking noise) and saw billions of black specs (the nanobots) spiral up out of the ground and morph together. Was it just coincidence that the second Technovore had emerged from the ground right behind the being that had killed the original? Tony didn't think so. Tony thought someone knew he was Iron Man and was out to get him. Who? I'll give you one guess.

Blake had been absent from school all week. Pepper hadn't received any phone calls. The Tomorrow Academy hadn't gotten any either. The first day they had told him he wasn't there, Rhodey had thought it coincidence. But now that Blake was on his fifth day, Rhodey was re-thinking everything. In other words, he was suspicous, but not so much that he was about to start pointing fingers.

Tony was though. He was completely convinced that Blake had something to do with the attack. Taking care of Rhodey was all he could do to distract himself from losing his grip on his emotions and hunting Blake down.

Pepper was unconvinced. Tony had given her reason after reason as to why Blake should be suspected but she just wouldn't listen. Even after he showed her his file, she said that Blake was honest, kind, and would not do someting like help someone create a monster like Technovore. Tony had reminded her that she had only known him for a month, and Pepper had reminded Tony that they had only known each other for five months. This fact had disturbed Tony to the point of looking up Patricia Potts on his computer.

"The doctor said I would be out of here in three days," said Rhodey, lightening the atmosphere of the room. Tony and Pepper both smiled.

"That's great!"

"Yeah school has been so fun without you. We could use some of your motherlyness at The Tomorrow Academy. You do know how to really bore-it-up there."

"Gee," Rhodey mumbled. "Thanks Pepper..."

Tony laughed at his two friends. Rhodey couldn't hide his small smirk and Pepper didn't even try to hide her giggles.

* * *

The next morning before the first bell, Tony and Pepper were standing by the lockers having an argument about Rhodey.

"I think we should tell him." Tony said sternly, shoving unneeded objects into his book bag. He had no use for textbooks, having them memorized the second day of school. Pepper sighed dramatically and gave Tony the hairy eye.

They had not told Rhodey about Pepper's little stunt. Pepper didn't want Rhodey to worry about her mental health, he had enough to worry about as it was. But Tony wouldn't see reason.

"He deserves to know Pepper."

"But it won't hurt him if he doesn't!"

"True... But it won't hurt him if he does." He said logically. Pepper groaned and crossed her arms across her chest. Tony looked at her warily and slung his book bag over his shoulder. "Remember how you felt when I didn't tell you about Whitney being Madam Mask?" Pepper snorted and looked away from him, but nodded her head. "Well... that's like this. It wouldn't have killed you if you had never found out about Whitney, but you had a right to know because both you and Rhodey help me fight the bad guys." He paused, letting her soak up this information. "Well, Rhodey deserves to know because he almost got crushed under a..." Tony trailed off when it became obvious that Pepper's short attention span was directed else where.

Her eyes followed something behind Tony until they stopped off to his left a bit. Her facial expression was happy and Tony knew what he was going to see before he even turned around.

Blake was opening his locker- something Pepper had never seen him do. She hadn't even known his locker was across the hall from Tony's. She smiled brightly and started to walk over to him so she could welcome him back to school and ask him where he had been the past week. She felt someone grab her arm and stop her cheerful skip abruptly. She turned around to see Tony glaring darkly at the figure across the hall, his hand clasped tightly around her forearm.

"Wait."

Pepper obeyed, not wanting to upset this evil version of her friend. She hadb't seen Tony this mad since he woke up trapped in Project Pegasus, having been KOd and brought there by the Crimson Dynamo. The only thing on his mind then had been revenge, and she wasn't sure if this time was too much different. He scowled at Blake for some time before ordering, "Stay here." and approaching him. Pepper stood rooted to the spot.

Blake shut his locker and turned around just in time to see Tony walking up to him, his fists clenched at his sides.

Blake put on a fake smile. "Hey Tony."

"Where have you been the past week?" He asked without warning. Blake smiled even brighter.

"I've been in Washington."

"Alone?"

"My mom came too."

"Why?" Tony interrogated further.

"She might get a job promotion." Tony's eyes narrowed at this new bit of information. Why would Blake move to Washington if he was working for Eric White? Did Eric White live in Washington? And Tony hadn't even factored Blake's mom into the equation.

"But, she just got a promotion. You just moved here." Tony said, desperate to keep him talking. "Why... why would she get one so quickly?"

Blake's smile faltered. "How did _you_ know that she just got promoted?"

Oops. Tony needed to cool down before he accidentally told Blake he was Iron Man. He needed to put his guard up around him.

"I... uhh... I, umm..." What he needed was a Twix. "I heard it around school."

"From who?"

Tony said the first name that came to mind, "Happy."

Blake studied him for a moment. His expression turned from suspicious to amused, then to a darker and creepier amused. He crossed his arms and stared down at the yound genius. "Happy? Happy Hogan?" He chuckled. "I'm not sure Happy even knows what cardiology is."

Tony's mouth flew open. The file had said his mom was a spinal surgeon! Not a cardiologist! Finally, the proof that he needed.

Blake turned around to walk away from the silent boy, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard someone whisper, "I don't believe you."

An angered Blake whipped around to stare at an equally upset Tony. "About what?"

"Where were you really this past week?" Tony growled. He could have sworn he saw Blake's eye twitch.

"I told y-"

"I. Don't. Believe. You." Tony ennunciated each word slowly.

"Ohh yeah? Where did you really find out that my mom had gotten promoted?" Blake countered.

Touche.

Tony needed a way to vent the anger that was building up inside him, so he shoved Blake and he stumbled a few steps. "I asked first."

Big mistake.

A fist hit Tony in his side. Hard. He gasped for air as he felt the wind being knocked out of him and exploded with anger. He threw a fist at Blake's perfect face and hit him square in the jaw. Blake retaliated by punching Tony in his nose, and before the two of them knew it they were throwing blind punches at each other in the middle of The Tomorrow Academy.

"Hey! HEY!"

Tony felt someone grab his arms and restrain him from hitting Blake anymore, and vise versa. Both boys were panting and glaring black looks at each other. It was then that Tony realized Happy Hogan and Dylan Fredericks were the two who had intervened the fight (he had expected two teachers).

"What the hell is wrong with you two?" Happy yelled, but he wasn't able to hide the smirk on his face on account of Tony hitting Blake in his face.

Dylan couldn't talk because he was too busy laughing. "Finally we see Stark's dark side!"

"What was _that!?!" _Pepper shouted, marching over to them, unable to stand still any longer. When the fight broke out the other kids in the hall had all gathered around to watch. The boys had been cheering Tony on (none of the guys really liked Blake), while the girls were obviously rooting for Blake. Happy and Dylan, being the only boys with enough sense, had been the ones to break up the feud. Happy had been in his fair share of fights so he knew when it was time to call it quits.

The bell rang at that moment, causing twenty kids to be late for class. They all scrambled to get to their next period, except three of them. Tony, Blake, and Pepper stood in the middle of the hallway. Tony and Blake were a mess.

"Listen Stark," Blake snarled. "I don't need this from you."

They looked like they were about to attack each other, but were interrupted by Pepper. "What is wrong with you two?!? Class is about to start!" She reminded them, stepping between the two so they couldn't do any more damage to each other than they already had done. She was bewildered, and afraid that her two friends were going to end up killing each other.

Tony was shaking with blind fury. Unable to hold what little of his composure he had left, he turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving an amused Blake and a confused and frightened Pepper lingering in the empty hallway.

Pepper cleared her throat awkwardly. "What was that about?"

* * *

Tony flew over the tall skyscrapers of Manhattan, letting his anger poor out of him.

He was pissed. How could Pepper trust him? Tony cursed himself for leaving her alone with that psycho, but knew no harm would come to her because she was in school.

Blake was lying. Big time. In his file it said that his mom was a spinal surgeon, and Blake had said his mom was a cardiologist. Either he was lying, or for some reason he thought that she specialized in disorders of the heart. Both ways were suspicious and had a reason behind them.

_Or,_ _there's always the off chance that someone recorded his mother's profession incorrectly._

He had ditched school. Tony knew that he couldn't walk into English class with his face covered with blood and a swollen eye. No, instead he had ran to the armory. Roberta was going to murder him later, but that didn't matter at the moment.

Tony once again found himself searching Blake Thomas Fletcher on his computer in the Iron Man suit. He searched his criminal record and was disappointed when there was nothing to be found.

There was the same information, dates, and records as before... but also something else. Something new.

Tony found Blake Thomas Fletcher's name on the guest list to a major gala going on at a hotel. The Bates. One of the most high class hotels in all of Manhattan.

The "party" (can't exactly call something that big a party) was for Morgan Hale, a six foot tall model with intense green eyes and long ebony hair. Her birthday was Saturday, and she would be turning twenty four. But why the hell would Blake go? How would he even get _in?_

He read over the list of names (very long list), and he was almost done when a name caught his eye.

Tony blinked. Was he reading it correctly? He would have rubbed his eyes but they were currently encased in one inch thick armor. No, no, no, the name wasn't Eric White. Ohh no, because the universe hated Tony and loved playing mind games with him, the name had to be ridiculously similar.

Erin White.

The same person maybe? A false name? Was Eric White a false name to begin with? Or was it just coincidence that the guy he suspected was involved with a criminal mastermind (who, by the way, he had still failed to even see a picture of) was going to a party that someone with almost the same exact name was also attending?

It wasn't not possible...

When he searched for information, of course, no one in particular came up with the name Erin White. The most interesting was someone in the world record book named Erin_n_ White, winning the title of "Fastest Digestive System".

* * *

Pepper watched Blake closely the entire math period. He was acting odd, but that didn't surprise her. He _had_ just gotten into a physical fight with her best friend and he had to endure sitting next to her for an entire period.

Where had Tony gone? Did he leave school? Roberta was going to shoot him...

Pepper became very worried about her angered friend. Whenever he was this mad he would fly around like a maniac in the Iron Man armor. What if he accidentally flew into a building? Or worse? What if he saw Technovore again?

She bit her lip anxiously and glared at the clock, daring it to move slower.

* * *

Tony strode into St. Vincent's hospital, not sure what he was going to explain to Rhodey first. His appearance, the reason he wasn't in school, or why he needed to crash an exclusive party at the Bates.

When he entered Rhodey's hospital room, he was greeted with the classic, "What are _you_ doing here!?" Rhodey pointed out the door into the hallway. "You're suppose to be in school! My mom's gonna kill you!"

"I know, I know." Tony muttered while sitting down in a chair beside his friends bed. "But I had to get outta there."

Rhodey sighed and put aside the book he had been reading. He scrutinized Tony for a moment before noticing the faint red color his face had to it and his swollen eye. "Uhh, am I missing something?"

Tony then launched himself into the detailed story of how he and Blake had basically beaten each other up.

"Are you okay?" Was the first thing out of Rhodey's mouth. Tony shook his head up and down and leaned in closer.

"But that's not all." He whispered, glancing around to make sure no one was listening (even though there was no one in the room). "He's going to a party on Saturday, at the Bates."

Rhodey blinked. "So?"

"Erin White is also going."

Rhodey wasn't sure how to respond to this, so instead of trying he thought of a way to understand it.

"Is it same same person as Eric White?"

"I don't know..." Tony said. "But really. What are the odds that he's going to the same party that someone who's name sounds exactly like the person that we think he might be working for is also going to?"

_"We?"_ Rhodey scoffed. This earned him an exasperated look.

"Yes. We. And I, umm...."

Rhodey gave Tony a disapproving look. "What Tony?"

Tony looked up at him as if Rhodey was a parent that had just caught their kid with their hand in the cookie jar. "I'm going to that party."

Of course Rhodey started lecturing Tony on how he was always doing stupid stuff like this, how he would get caught sneaking into the party, and how Rhodey wouldn't be able to do anything about it because, A. Tony couldn't walk into a festivity such as this one with a backpack on, and B. Rhodey was trapped in the hospital until Sunday.

"And what is the party even for?" Rhodey asked hotly.

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. "Morgan Hale."

"Tony can you hear yourself? This is so far fetched!"

"Rhodey I know but I have this feeling in my gut that's telling me something is wrong with Blake. What if he's meeting him there to like, conspire or something? Zero results came up for Erin White, just like they did for Eric White! And remember how in his file it said that his mom was a spinal surgeon?"

"Yeah..."

"Well today he said his mom was a cardiologist."

"Why would he say that?" Rhodey questioned dully.

"That's my point!" Tony replied, frustrated. "There's something not right about him. And _we,"_ He indicated towards Rhodey and himself, "Are going to find out what."

Rhodey held his stomach and leaned forward.

"Are you okay?"

"No," He answered quickly. "I think I'm going to be sick."

* * *

"So what time is it? What are you going to wear? Will you use a fake name? Will you pretend to be someone else? Will you bring the Iron Man armor? Are you gonna-"

"Pepper!"

The red head saw the twin looks she was receiving.

"Sorry..." She muttered.

Tony, Rhodey, and an over-excited Pepper were discussing the plans for crashing possibly the biggest party of the year. Morgan Hale had an extensive guest list... four hundred eighty five people were attending out of the five hundred that had been invited.

"Because the guest list is song long..." He explained, scrolling down the list of names on the computer in his lap. "I'm going to use the name of someone that isn't going."

"WOW! That's _so_ cool! This is one of the best Iron Man missions yet! It's like something from James Bond! You could be all, 'Shaken, not stirred,' to the bartender and..."

Rhodey gave Tony a disapproving look, and he shrunk under it. Pepper's cheerful blabber crushing him with guilt. The red head didn't know about Erin White, or Blake, she thought that _Erik_ White's name was on the guest list, causing Tony to go and investigate.

Tony knew that she would have not approved of him crashing the party if she knew the reason behind it. Pepper trusted Blake with every fiber in her being. She would have been angry with him, and that was the last thing he wanted at the moment. So he had lied-something he was quite good at.

She hadn't asked about the fight. Right when school had gotten out, she had came to the hospital, hoping to find Tony there. Pepper didn't want to talk about it, she decided that it was on a need to know basis. She was naturally curious, but she smothered her curiosity and joined in the Iron Man plans as if nothing had happened.

"Okay," Tony started. "I have the details." Rhodey and Pepper gave him their full attention. "Morgan Hale's birthday party, May 22nd, at the Bates Hotel. Time: 8pm. Everyone that attends receives a room for the night." Tony looked up from the computer. "What is she going to do? I mean, how can she entertain five hundred guests?"

"Easily," Pepper said. The two boys stared at her. "She'll probably have a concert going on or something. A few bars. You get the picture."

Tony's cell phone chose that moment to ring. He casually picked it up, but stiffened when he saw the glowing number. He hesitantly opened it, and mentally cursed himself.

"He-hello?" Pepper and Rhodey glanced questioningly at each other. They heard a loud reply on the other end that sounded some what like the teacher from Charlie Brown.

"Wa Waaa waaa!"

"Yeah I know. But I-"

"Waaa wa, waaa waa! Waaa."

"What!? No-"

"WAAAA!"

"But-"

"Waaa waa waa waaaa waa waaa!"

"Okay, fine." Tony hung up the phone and started pacing around the room. He ran his hands threw his black hair. "That was your mom, Rhodey."

A heavy silence hung in the air. Pepper was unaware of the situation, but Rhodey knew exactly what had just happened.

"I'm grounded for ditching."

Pepper sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Couldn't you just sneak out or something?"

"You can't sneak out of that house. Well, you can, but not when Roberta is actually paying attention. She'll lock all the doors and carry the only key around with her."

"It's true," Rhodey added. "One time he tried to sneak out, and he set the burglar alarm off. She knew that he was going to try, what door and everything. We think she's psychic."

"So now what?" Pepper questioned angrily, upset that there wouldn't be a mission because of Rhodey's freaky-lawyer mom.

Tony stared out the window thoughtfully for a moment. She was right, now what? He couldn't go to the big blow out if Roberta was going to have him under surveillance all weekend. He knew that women all too well, and it wasn't worth his time trying to think of ways to escape. Now he wouldn't be able to get dirt on Blake, or figure out who the hell Erin/Eric White was (and if they were even the same person).

He would get caught trying to jump out his bedroom window, it was likely that Roberta was putting bars up at that very moment. And if she caught him in a tuxedo? That would call for a _lot_ of explaining to do. Unless, of course, he just told her he was going on a date with Whitney.

Rhodey saw the lightbuld go off above Tony's head.

"Hey, Pepper," He said to her casually.

"Yeah?"

"So uh, what are you doing Saturday night?"

Tony heard the _Ding!_ go off above Rhodey's head.

"Nothing. I mean I was going to help you and Rhodey get into that party but..." Pepper slowly stopped as she realized what the conversation was pointing to. She looked at them both seriously. "No. Ohh, no."

"Have you ever been to the Bates?"

"Tony! I can't go!"

"Why not? You can use your earpiece and me and Rhodey will talk you through the whole thing." Tony began, "I'll set up the laptop for him, and I'll use that piece of crap in my room."

Pepper racked her brain for an excuse. "But you won't be able to see what's going on like me and Rhodey can when your in the armor."

Tony thought about this. "That's not true. Rhodey, remember that pair of glasses I made?"

Rhodey smirked. "Of course."

"Could Pepper wear them?"

"I don't see why she couldn't."

"What are you two nerds talking about? I don't speak geek."

Tony turned to her. "A while ago I invented a pair of glasses that work like the visual link in the armor works. We see everything you see."

Pepper swiveled to face Rhodey in her desperation. "Please tell me you guys are joking!"

He shook his head in the universal this-patient-can't-be-saved gesture. "I'm afraid not."

Pepper let out a frustrated moan and rubbed her temples. "Why do we even have to go Is it really that important?"

"You'll really be helping Team Iron Man..." Tony reminded her. She muttered something that thankfully they couldn't hear and sighed in defeat.

"Fine! I'll go to the stupid party thing!" She nearly shouted, but kept her voice down because they were in a hospital. "But if there are pole dancers I'm leaving."

"Deal." Tony picked up the laptop and scrolled through the list of girl names that were not going. "Your choice between names is Kaitlyn Webb, Marcy Fisher, and Maria McDonnel."

"I don't care!" She said, getting up and grabbing her school bag. She held out her hand to Tony. "Give me a check for fifteen hundred."

"What!? Why!?"

"Because," She muttered darkly, leaning into Tony so close that their noses were touching. "Now _I_ have to go out and buy a sexy new dress!"

**Yay! Now im back to my normal writing style. i hope i haven't lost you guys yet. i know it's like the last chapter was major turbulence in the story, and it just stopped abruptly(but if any of you out there watch lost, then you'll know what happened on the flight. the turbulence stopped for a second and then the plane ripped in half!! AHHHH!) this story is about to get real juicy. so... get your straws and sip it up... or something...**


	8. Chapter 8

**ohh god... please dont kill me!!! be gentle when you review!**

**I own nothing**

Pepper stared at herself in the mirror.

The silk white dress reached just above her knees. It had a thick black strap just below her chest, and was so tight it hurt. The strapless dress exposed her back all the way down to the small of it. Because of this she had declined from wearing a bra, and it felt odd. Her short hair was pulled into a small bun, except for one annoying straggler who refused to stay put. She had decided on just curling it and leaving it be.

Stupid sales women. She had Pepper try on twenty different dresses until she had found the "perfect" one (for future reference, when someone is selling you something, the translation of "It's perfect!" is: "This is the most expensive one I could find that actually looks good on you!").

When she was young, Pepper's babysitter had played barbie doll with her all the time. But Pepper would be the doll. She would give her little dresses to put on and braid her hair, curl it, straighten it, she would even go as far as to apply make up to the young girl's face. Pepper had gotten so sick of it by the time she was ten that she had taken a pair of scissors to her hair herself, and had forced her father to fire the seventeen-year-old. She had stayed as far away from feminine products as possible, but that didn't mean she didn't know how to use them.

She had broken out the skills she had learned from that accursed baby sitter and had applied make up to her face. It was one of those times when she wished that she didn't have so many freckles, but there was nothing she could do about that.

Pepper sighed as she stared at the stranger looking back at her. She looked completely different. Her appearance had changed from tom boy to princess, but it was still the same Pepper. Right? She didn't feel any different... but she looked it.

Pulling out her cell phone, she checked the clock for the umpteenth time. She hit Tony's speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Tony? Where are you?"

"I'm coming. Are you sure you're wearing a dress? You know you can't wear converse..."

"I'm perfectly capable of dressing like a _girl_ Anthony Stark!" Pepper snapped into the receiver and slammed her phone shut. She wasn't wearing converse, but instead a pair of high heels. Notably the worst shoe ever invented, Pepper stared down at the torture device with dismay. The thin high heel was a simple black, and raised her height by three inches. There was one strap around her ankle and another around her foot. Pepper had been practicing walking in them for the past two hours, and could feel a blister forming. She hoped that she would be taller than Tony, and be able to rub it in his face.

Pepper saw the headlights out her window and braced herself. She grabbed her pocket book that had a brand new fake I.D. in it and slowly opened her bedroom door. Her father was asleep, even though it was only seven thirty. He had to get up early for work, and his snores were so loud that Pepper knew any noise she made wouldn't disturb him at all.

She quietly snuck out the front door, and ran over to the cab parked outside her apartment. She quickly got in and let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in. She buckled herself in and her eyes wandered over to the boy gawking at her.

She smiled sheepishly at Tony and handed him what was left of the fifteen hundred dollars he had "loaned" her. "Sorry, I think I went a little over board..." She laughed nervously and looked away from him. He still hadn't taken his eyes off of her and a light pink color dusted her cheeks.

Once Tony had gained his composure, he surprised Pepper by laughing.

"What?"

"I never thought I'd see the day you would wear high heels."

Pepper huffed and crossed her arms. "I can't believe girls actually can stand to wear these things! They're awful! I swear I'll have like twenty blisters by the end of the night! This is ridiculous! I don't even know why I-"

"Pepper."

"Sorry."

"Okay listen," He leaned in closer so the taxi driver couldn't hear them. "Here are the glasses," He handed her a pair of square black glasses.

"You expect me to wear those?"

"Yes. Yes I do." She shrugged and put them on. "And you're earpiece..." He fiddled with the device for a moment before handing it to her.

"How did you even get out of the house?"

He rolled his eyes. "I told Roberta that I forgot some homework at school."

Pepper laughed again, but this was just because she was so nervous. "So what's the plan again?" She asked.

"First you need to go to the hotel room they give you. Then you need to plug this," He handed her a weird looking video camera, "Into the TV."

"Why?'

"Because, I designed it to give us footage of the other rooms. I made it so it'll give us video footage of Bl- uh, White's room."

Tony saw the worried look in Pepper's eyes. "Hey..." He said, and gave her an encouraging look. "You just need to get to your room. It's not like they''ll notice you're not supposed to be there, I doubt you'll even see Morgan. There are hundreds of people there. You're not even really doing anything illegal."

"Ohh yeah," She said. "Nothing illegal. I'm breaking the law in like four different ways. What if SHIELD finds out that I'm part of Iron Man cause they hear you talking to me over the radio with some weird device of theirs or something and they lock me up and torture me until I lose my mind and get a lazy eye cause-"

"Stop, you'll do fine." He murmured. It was then that the taxi pulled up the closest free parking spot to the Bates. Pepper groaned as she realized she was going to have to walk two blocks to get to the party.

"Excuse me?" Pepper tapped the plastic separating them from the driver. "Can't we get any closer?"

"No." He replied flatly. He looked to be in his early twenties, probably a high school drop out. Knowing she wasn't going to get much more out of him, Pepper sighed and opened the door.

"When should I turn them on?" She held up the ear piece and tapped her glasses.

"When you get to the hotel room." Pepper nodded. She was about to slide out, but something stopped her.

"What if I get caught?"

Tony sighed. "You wont get caught. There are hundreds of people in there. And if something happens, I'll come get you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Pepper gave Tony a quick peck on the cheek. "Wish me luck." She said as she got out the door and shut it behind her.

Tony heard the taxi man let out a low whistle as Pepper strut down the street. "Sorry man, but your girlfriend is HOT!"

* * *

Pepper had to blink a few times. There were dozens of people surrounding her... all of them way over dressed, but I guess you could say a lot of the women were under dressed, because of the lack of clothing on them.

She was standing in what she considered a very very big club, but with a stage and a light show, plus there was no pot. People were dancing and laughing, it almost seemed like a regular party. _Almost._ That illusion ended when Eminem took the stage.

She felt claustrophobic, and the screams from the crowd weren't helping. Pepper made her way towards the closest door and opened it. She found herself staring at a bowling alley, which surprised her and didn't at the same time. There were fifteen lanes, all of which were filled. She walked through it to the arched opening opposite to her and silently wished that she wasn't wearing high heels.

Finally, after going through a number of different entertainment filled rooms (including a pool, she almost fell in it. Damn heels.), she reached a row of elevators. She quickly got in one and went to the fifth floor.

When the fancy door slid open, Pepper poked her head out. The long hallway was decorated with a black and white pattern that made it look like the floors and walls were moving. The optical illusion made Pepper's stomach twist in response and she stumbled out of elevator, cursing under her breath. Why the hell did she agree to do this?

Rushing down the hall, Pepper swore that she was going to make Tony and Rhodey walk around the lab in high heels... until they bled. She counted the room numbers until she reached the 512th one, and she put her key in the lock. She turned it and with a satisfying _click_, the door opened.

She set off the motion sensor and the room lit up. "Whoa..."It was filled with expensive looking leather furniture and the walls were painted sky blue. The queen sized bed stood proudly in the dead center of the room, showing off it's unique style and design. There was a door that Pepper guessed led to the bathroom, which would probably be bigger than her bedroom. Hanging on the wall was a 42 inch plasma screen television, and Pepper hoped she would be able to figure out how to plug the camera into it. There was a mini fridge, and double doors that led to a balcony-was every room like this? Damn. No wonder they charged four hundred dollars a night!

Pepper turned on her earpiece, and for a second only heard static.

_"Pepper?" _A voice that could only belong to Rhodey asked.

"Yeah it's me. Here, I'll turn on the glasses." She pushed the button near the lens, and everything flashed green.

_ "That's your hotel room!? Are you sure?"_

"I'm pretty sure. Now where's Tony? I need to figure out how to plug the camera into the TV."

_ "I'm here. Are you in you're room?"_

"Yeah, how do I plug this into the TV?" She picked up the camera so she was looking at it.

_"Okay, do you see that yellow output cable?"_

"Uhh, this thing?" Pepper held up one of the cables dangling off of the camera.

_"Yeah that's it. Now you need to take the three RCA connectors and plug those into the back of the television with the corresponding colors."_ He finished, leaving Pepper dumbstruck. She just stood there, waiting for him to continue. She heard a staticy sigh.

_"Take the black, white, and red plugs, and plug them into the TV with the same colors."_

"Ohh! Okay!" She put the camera down and slowly turned the television, praying that it wouldn't fall. When the back was exposed she saw numerous outlets in colors of yellow, white, black and red. After plugging the correct output cables and whatnot, she turned on the camera and then the television. "So will White's room pop up?"

_"It should."_

_ "White's room?" _Rhodey asked. _"I thought it would be Bl-"_

_ "No it's White's!"_ Tony interrupted him. Rhodey didn't say anything else. An image slowly appeared on the screen. It was dull, but Pepper could see a room identical to her's, except there was a very proffesional looking suitcase on the bed. They were looking at the room frrom one of the ceiling corners.

"This is _so_ cool!" Pepper squealed. "I feel like I'm in a movie! I'm like the spy and we're trying to get dirt on the bad guy and I'm undercover so I-" Her blabbering stopped so abruptly it was like she had been slapped. A figure had walked in view of the camera, and it was totally unexpected. He was tall, had dark hair, and had a lean build that Pepper recognized too, too well.

"Tony, Rhodey," She growled. "Who the hell is that?"

Dead silence. A shaky breath was heard on the other end.

_"It was Tony's idea!" _Rhodey blurted.

"Is that Blake!?!"

_"Yeah, that's Blake."_ Tony said. If he was here, Pepper would have strangled him.

"You had me come here to spy on him!" It wasn't a question. Pepper was smart, she knew what was going on inside Tony's head. Most of the time anyways.

"How could you do that? He's my friend! I can't believe you!" She was hurt. She felt betrayed that Tony would lie to her about something like this.

_"I'm sorry Pepper, but you would have never gone if you knew _why_ you were going! And Blake's obviously up to something! His file is ridiculously suspicious! And don't you think it's a bit odd that he's at _this_ party?"_ It was true, Pepper couldn't deny it. There was no reason why Blake should be attending this party, unless he knew Morgan Hale. Which she doubted.

"What's his room number?"

Pepper heard shuffling on the other end of the line. _"It's 612, why?"_

"I'll go up there and _show_ you that he's a good guy."

* * *

"What!?" Tony shouted. She was going up there? "Pepper you can't!"

_"Why not? You can't stop me." _She was already on her was towards the elevator.

"Because he's probably dangerous!"

Pepper laughed. She actually laughed. _"That's stupid. He's not dangerous."_ She was in the elevator and she punched the sixth floor button.

"You saw what he did to me in the hallway!"

_ "Yeah," _She agreed._ "I did. But that was because you pissed him off." _That was true. If Tony was good at anything, it was pissing people off. Villains, Stane, Roberta, Rhodey, Pepper, he had pissed them all off. But, that was not the point.

"Rhodey, help me here!"

_ "Tony's right, Pepper. You should go back to you're room."_ He paused. _"Why did we even make you do this?"_

_ "You're asking me?" _She muttered as the elevator door opened. She glided down the hall and when she reached the right room, Tony saw her hand come up and knock on room 612. It was really frustrating because it was like he was looking through her eyes, and he couldn't move his neck or anything.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened and there stood Tony's least favorite person in the entire world, looks and all.

* * *

"Pepper?" Blake blinked. "What... what are you doing here?"

She smiled. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Touche. Do you wanna come in?"

_"No, no you don't!"_

"Sure." He let her in and shut the door behind himself, studying her every movement.

"You're room looks exactly like mine."

"That doesn't surprise me."

Pepper saw the balcony door was open, and like a moth to a flame she was drawn. The view was breathtaking.

You see, the Bates was one block away from Time Square. And in between the two was a short office building, so people on the fifth floor up had no trouble seeing the beautiful view.

This was one of the places that Pepper preferred to see at night. The lights pulsed and moved and the hustle and bustle of the city made the night air come alive.

"Isn't it amazing? It's so much different than Vermont." Blake was standing beside her, their shoulders touching. Pepper shivered, but it wasn't because she was cold.

"I didn't know you wear glasses," Blake said. Pepper was confused for a second, but then remembered the geeky glasses she was indeed wearing. Great.

"Yeah, I usually wear contacts, but, um... They've been bothering my eyes lately so I decided to wear these instead."

_"Pepper, ask him why he's here!"_

"What? No!" Pepper didn't realize that she had spoken aloud until it was too late. She smiled sheepishly at Blake who eyed her suspiciously.

"What was that?" He asked her. Pepper looked away, praying for something, anything.

_"Pepper it's the perfect chance for you to interrogate him! Please?"_

"Shut up! He's not a..." She trailed off, cursing herself for being so talkative.

"Um, are you okay?"

"I... I have turrets syndrome." She blurted. Was that really the best excuse she had? There goes her chance of ever getting Blake to like her.

Whoa... where did those thoughts come from? She had always had a crush on Tony, though she would never have admit it. Was it gone? Replaced?

On the other end of the radio, she heard Tony and Rhodey laughing.

Blake laughed too. "Pepper, I don't think you do. I can tell when people are lying. And um..." He reached over and took her pink headpiece out of her ear. "What's this?"

Damn. Poop, poop poop... double poop. What now? Tony and Rhodey could still see what was going on, but they couldn't tell her what to do. What if Blake heard them? Hoping that, for once in her life, she would be able to lie effectively, Pepper put up both her hands in a not so fake defeat.

"Fine, you caught me. I was talking to my friend Hilary. She has a big crush on you." Where the hell did she pull that one out of? Her butt, it was definitely pooish. Blake stared at the device curiously. His body suddenly jerked, and he stared down at it with a shocked expression.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asked. He looked like he wasn't breathing.

"I'm fine," He answered, handing it back to her. It surprised Pepper that he didn't ask about "Hilary" (who, by the way, was an actual girl at The Tomorrow Academy that had a _huge_ crush on Blake), but decided not to look too deep into it. Pepper leaned against the railing of the balcony and stared at Blake. He looked like he was about to have an aneurysm. He was rubbing his temples, and taking deep breaths through his nose. What did she do wrong? Did she say something? Did he know Hilary?

Pepper was lost so deep in thought that she didn't notice all of the pressure she was putting on one of her heels (the saleswomen had told her not too), and it snapped. The motion cause her to jerk forward, and accidentally drop the pink head piece over the railing.

"No!" She tried to grab it, but insted of helping, it just made things ten times worse. Her glasses slid off her face, and fell six stories to the hard unforgiving cement.

Only in Pepper's life.

"Oh_my_god!" She screamed. "That did not just happen!" Not only could she not communicate with Tony and or Rhodey, they couldn't even see what she was doing.

She was on her own.

She heard a deep laugh from behind her, and another shiver rushed up her spine. "Did you just drop _both_ of those?" Blake leaned over the edge of the railing along side her, and looked her in the eyes, an inch away from her face. "That's so like you." He looked so hot. His tuxedo hugged all of his muscles perfectly.

Pepper stood straight up and stuck her nose in the air. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, when you get down to it, it means... that I've liked you ever since I ran over you in the hallway."

Pepper gawked at him. Was he serious? Did that hot piece of man meat just say that he _liked_ Pepper? She had never had a boyfriend, never even kissed a boy (besides Tony, he didn't count though).

"I- I've liked you too." She admitted. Blake didn't seem surprised by this and smiled.

Then, he said all seductive like, "And you look gorgeous tonight."

She had to resist the urge to let loose a phsycotic giggle. Blake liked her. He _liked_ her. Boys didn't say that kind of stuff unless they really liked you. Not that she would know. But she couldn't help think in the back of her mind that something... something was wrong... Blake had just looked like he had had a killer migraine, and now he was complementing her and literally hitting on her. But Pepper wanted this to be real. She knew it was real, it had to be. Blake and Pepper had spent the last month together and they had become very fast friends.

"Ohh, thanks. I- I mean you look nice too, really nice actually. It took me a while to put this together. Usually I wouldn't do something like this unless something _really_ formal came up and ya know this was pretty formal so I decided I would try-"

"Pepper," Blake said. "I think I'm in love with you."

Pepper was caught in a tender kiss. Before she could even react, the kiss became deep and intimate. Their bodies pressed together, Blake and Pepper had a hot make out session, overlooking New York.

Everything was happening so fast, and after what seemed like forever they broke apart and were gasping for air.

"Wow..." Pepper breathed.

"Yeah," Blake agreed. "Wow."

"I- I love you too."

Pepper would never understand what happened next, but they were inside. She couldn't think straight- everything was all heat and sensation and desire. Their hands running alll over each others bodies, Blake was on top of Pepper. Or was it the other way around? It didn't matter. They were in love and they were meant to be together, Pepper knew it.

Then, before she knew it, Pepper was the thing she had swore that she would never ever, in a million years turn into.

A teenage girl who lost her virginity.

**I **

** Expect**

** Flames**


	9. Chapter 9

**I understand a few of you are a little... what's the word? Shocked? Surprised? Pissed? All of the above? **

**IMPORTANT: I'm making this first person- with the point of view switching from Pepper to Tony to Rhodey.**

**I don't own anything**

I awoke groggily in bed the next morning. With a yawn, I sat up and took in my surroundings.

Where was I?

I was in a... hotel room? Okay... The walls were blue and there was leather everywhere. Eesh, talk about having too much of one thing. I felt like poo, and, and something hurt...

It was then I realized I was naked.

Oh my god... was it a dream? Please let it have been a beautiful, beautiful nightmare.

But sadly, even then I knew that it had been reality. It had been extremely real. I was no longer a virgin.

I felt like I had lost something. I had given a big part of me away, and I couldn't get it back. I started hyper ventilating when I realized that Blake was gone. He had left me, alone in a giant hotel after having sex with me. After telling me that he loved me, he left without a word. I knew _I_ loved him... or did I? Did I really love him? Did he love me? Had he just used me for sex? Was that the only way a guy could actually like me? Because they thought I was easy?

I knew that I couldn't sit there, completely undressed forever, what if the cleaning service came? That's just setting up an awkward moment. So I threw my clothes on (and sadly, there wasn't that much there. A reminder that maybe Blake thought I was easy. Or a slut.), and slipped my feet in the shoes from hell. Then I remembered that they had broke. Ugh. Could my life get any worse?

A knock at the door confirmed that.

When I didn't say anything, A lady carrying one of those carts that held so many disinfectants and plastic bags you thought they were cleaning up a murder walked in.

"Ohh!" She gasped. "So sorry! But you better hurry. It's almost noon. If you don't check out, you'll be charged for one night."

I looked at the clock, and when it read _11:55,_ I sprinted out the door, barefooted, in a silk white dress. The only other thing I had was my purse, which made me look even more psychotic.

I repeatedly jammed my finger on the down button for the elevator. I knew that it was going to take too long, so I bolted down the stairs. Thinking I was in the clear, I tried to jump down from the last flight to the floor. It was only ten feet, and I had jumped out of my bedroom window plenty of times.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

My dress caught on the rail and with a horrible ripping sound, tore from the top of my thigh down.

I growled in frustration at my ruined outfit, but ran into the lobby anyways. Apparently this kind of thing happened all the time, because I didn't receive as many dirty looks as I had been expecting. I started to run up to the front desk, but I failed to notice the "Caution: Wet!" sign that had been placed in front of it. I slid eight feet and slammed into the counter, making a show of falling backward on my behind and screaming my irritation.

The tall women manning the counter leaned over and eyed me warily. "Are you here to check out?"

"Yes, I am. I was at the party."

She typed something into her computer and asked, "Name?"

"Maria McDonnel," I answered automatically, thankful I had spent one hour studying the damn thing.

"Okay... one second." She hit a few more keys, clicked the mouse a few times, and when I thought I was off the hook, she said, "That's one hundred fifty dollars. Debit or credit?"

I gaped at the women. "But I was at the party! It's free for guests!"

"No, the room was free for guests. But, with all the accommodations, it clearly read in the E-mail miss Hales sent out that to help pay, each guest that stayed the night would be charged a small fee."

"Small?"

"Debit? Or credit?" She repeated, a bit rude this time. Of course, I could have just told her, "Credit!" and been on my merry way. But I had been raised to abide the law in any way shape or form. Well, at least try. It was hard when you're best friend was Iron Man and they sent you on missions that ended in you having sex... Anyways saying that would technically be stealing from Maria, because she was a real person. So I reached into my purse, pulled out the two hundred dollars I carried around with me in case of emergencies, and handed it to Miss DebitorCredit.

"Oh, cash. Okay give me a second." I smashed my head against the marble pillar that was standing next to the desk, and finally earned some glares. After a few more minutes of typing and clicking, she handed me back fifty dollars.

I took out my phone and called Tony, thinking that he would answer. It rang, and rang, and rang...

No answer. I tried Rhodey, and swore I would attend church on Sunday when he answered.

"Pepper?" He asked, a bit worried.

"Rhodey? Thank god! I'm okay, the ear piece fell and then when I tried to grab tit the glasses fell of too! That's just my luck I mean-'

"Yeah, we saw what happened." My brows furrowed in confusion. He sounded pissed. What had I done wrong? It's not like they had seen me and Blake...

Ohh! That's when I realized. Tony was probably mad that I had broken his glasses! Duh! That boy was so proud of everything he made... And when Tony was mad, he usually took it out on Rhodey. Creating a domino affect and Rhodey would take it out on me.

"I'm sorry that I broke the glasses, but tell Tony to suck it up. He can make a new pair, this time not so ugly." I expected something rude in response, but heard nothing. A sharp breath escaped my lips when I saw the call had ended. _Rhodey hung up on me! How rude!_ I slammed the phone shut and with a huff I turned on my heel and marched out of there, desperately trying not to lose control of my emotions. I had to walk outside, and find a cab half dressed.

But you can't lose what you never had.

Picture this: Me, running down Broadway. Okay that's fine. How about me running down Broadway barefooted, in a silk white dress, with no bra...

Looking like something from Star Wars or The Lord of The Rings (I'm a dork), I stuck my thumb out, desperate for a cab. I heard someone snickering behind me, and in the process of turning around to glare I fell again. This time in a puddle.

Okay, now on top of barefooted I was soaked. Picking up myself and what was left of my pride, I stood up and climbed into a taxi.

New York taxi drivers were used to weirdos, something I knew I looked like right now. Drunks, gamblers, the homeless, prostitutes, drug dealers, junkies... they got them all. So I didn't expect the air of awkwardness that I experienced when I climbed into that van.

After I told him my address, he kept asking me questions like, "Are you sure I can't take you to the hospital?", "Hey kid, is there a parent or something I could call for you?", "Where are you're shoes?". He must have been a newbie, so as I got out I gave him a five dollar tip and told him that he'd get used to it.

I opened the front door, and was greeted by the screeching of the burgalar alarm.

"Dammit!" I ran over and punched in the code before the police would come, and remembered that my dad always left the burglar alarm when he went to work early in the morning. The first thing I did was take a shower. The water running down my face was like an invitation, it opened me up. So I cried. Something I seemed to be doing a lot of lately.

I let it all sink in. Everything.

I had sex.

It hit me like an avalanche. Ohh my god... We hadn't used protective anything. What if I got pregnant? Or what if I contracted an STD? Both scenarios could potentially ruin my life. More tears spilled from my eyes as I pictured the look Tony would give me if I told him I was pregnant. He would be disgusted. Would he ever speak to me again? And what about Rhodey? Rhodey would be just as bad. He would reprimand me and criticize me for bad judgement. I knew one thing- I would no longer be able to work on team Iron Man. That would be the end of that. Whitney Stane would make fun of me, call me a slut, a whore.

And what about Blake?

Why did he leave? Why didn't he write a note? I thought he said he loved me. He had meant it. Hadn't he? I pictured staring at myself in a mirror, alone and rejected by my friends and colleges, my stomach ballooning out as if I had pumped helium into it. That would be the end of SHIELD. It was every teenage girl's worst nightmare. My period was due in a week. If it didn't come, then... Then I would buy a pregnancy test.

* * *

_16 Hours Earlier_

* * *

I watched in disbelief as the ground grew closer to the monitor ever millisecond. Finally with a static filled smash, Pepper's glasses hit the concrete, along side her ear piece.

_"Uhh, Tony, did she just drop both of those?"_ Rhodey asked.

I couldn't help but laugh. The situation was about as bad as it could get, but the thought of Pepper's glasses sliding off her face, and her reaction wouldn't get out of my mind. "I can control the footage from the camera to come to our computers, but it'll take longer because this thing is a dinosaur. So give me a second." I entered multiple passwords, codes, and instructions into the computer. After ten dragged out minutes of loading, a blurry image lit up my screen.

"Rhodey are you getting this?"

_"Yup. Hey what is... ohh boy..."_

I squinted at the computer. What was that? Blake must have gone to bed because there was a lump under the covers. Then I noticed the second and smaller lump right beside him...

And then I took note of it's red hair.

A million emotions rushed through my body at once. Shock, anger, betrayal, pain... This couldn't be happening. Were Blake and Pepper...? Yes. There was no doubt about it, Blake and Pepper were having sex.

_"Tony? Tony are you there? Tony don't freak out. Maybe they're just..."_

"Just what Rhodey?" I snarled into the microphone. "Pepper is sleeping with Blake! Who knows for how long! This could be the fifth time for all we know!" I grabbed a book from the shelf, and, not caring who heard me ripped the pages out and threw it against my bedroom wall. I repeated this action until there was a layer of pages covering my floor, and a pile of book covers in the corner. I searched for something more effective. I needed to vent the anger inside me before I popped. I would have gone to the armory, but Roberta had locked my bedroom door and had turned the burglar alarm on. I was trapped.

I stormed over to the computer, and, having seen enough, ripped the monitor out of the wall.

I threw it so hard that I'm surprised SHIELD didn't come, not even Roberta came down. It looked like a mini explosion went off. Plastic and wiring flew everywhere, and then when I hadn't had enough I brought my foot down so hard on the top of it that it went right through. Then I did the same thing with the computer, but this time I ripped apart the wiring and circuitry with my bare hands. I didn't even feel it when the metal inside it tore through my skin.

After thirty minutes of nothing but destruction, I collapsed onto my bed and looked at the damage I had done. It looked like a war zone, paper, plastic and metal everywhere. It was funny, I did so much building and repairing, and I was able to destroy something so easily without a second thought.

Then the stab of betrayal hit me like a hot knife. How could Pepper do this? She didn't even know Blake. Rhodey and I hadn't picked up on a single romantic vibe from them. Yet here they were, making love. I had been dating Whitney for nearly two months, and we had not done anything even remotely close to sex. Well... she had tried to, but I had made sure it hadn't gone too far.

I wondered suddenly if they really did have sex before. Would Pepper really keep that big of a secret from me? I was her best friend. I thought I was anyway. Had she told him I was Iron Man? If she had, I was screwed royally. Blake was definitely up to something, I knew that for sure. I also knew that Blake was using Pepper, for some bizarre reason. And I was going to rip his head off for that. He was trying to get to me... But why? Did he know I was Iron Man? _Did_ she tell him?

My mind a chaotic whirlwind of thoughts and questions, my emotions a hopeless wreck, and my heart in two, I fell asleep cursing Blake to the deepest, darkest pit in hell.

* * *

"Tony? Tony are you there?" I asked. "Tony don't freak out. Maybe they're just...

_"Just what Rhodey?" _He interrupted. _"Pepper is sleeping with Blake! Who knows for how long! This could be the fifth time for all we know!" _

Sadly, he was right. I had known that he was jealous of Blake and Pepper just for being friends, and it had been funny at first. But we just caught them in the middle of, well... you know...

I wasn't sure whether to worry about Tony or Pepper. Tony because his head was probably about to explode, or Pepper because she was having sex with almost a complete stranger. The image on my laptop turned into a snow storm, and I heard an awful, metallic, static filled sound. The noise stopped as suddenly as it had started, and I sat there in the hospital bed, not sure what to do.

Tony had, A. Turned the computer off, B. Kicked the computer, C. Thrown the computer. All three ways were pretty bad, and I was thankful my mom had taken pain killers before she had gone to bed, or she would have definitely heard it. I hoped that Tony wouldn't cause too much damage to his bedroom, because I knew either my mother would see it or I would have to clean it up.

Pepper...

I was either going to kill her, or _kill_ her. On one hand I wanted to scream, "Pepper! You're sixteen! How could you do something so stupid? You could get pregnant. Or worse..." On the other hand, I wanted to throttle her and say, "How could you do that to Tony?! He could freak out and go flying around in the Iron Man armor and accidentally hurt himself! You know how he pushes the fights when he gets emotional!".

I felt bad for her, in a way. Tony and I both knew something was up with Blake. She had just given away her virginity to him. If he turned out to be in buisness with White, it would break her heart. But she had just broken Tony's heart, about as bad as you could break one. I tried to picture catching Emily having sex with another guy, over a video camera she had forgotten to turn off no less, and it sucked.

I wondered if Tony would tell Pepper he saw her and Blake. He wouldn't right away, but eventually it would come around. How would he treat her? I had no idea. I decided to let the cards fall where they may, but if Tony didn't tell Pepper in a week...

I would.

**Did you like first person better? I did. I had more fun writing in first person. Tell me in the reviews I know you are going to do!**


	10. Sigh

** I have decided to stop The Good The Bad and The Blake for a while. Don't ask me how long, because I don't know. Sadly the most likely answer is, "Until the damn second season comes out." Don't ask why either. If I told you, a bunch of you would send me pity emails and junk and I really don't want any of that right now. There are a few things in my life right now that are getting in the way of this story. **

** I know a lot of it is a fricken train wreck, it's just that I am no good with tieing chapters together and whatnot. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of just letting go of this story completely and moving on. I may publish other stories, like one-shots. I already did one for Fablehaven if you want to read that for the time being, but part of me doubts you will. Hmmm... yeah that's about it. Sorry, again, for the people out there who still actually enjoy this story. **


	11. Chapter 11

_Sometimes I feel I've got to _  
_Run away I've got to _  
_Get away _  
_From the pain you drive into the heart of me _  
_The love we share _  
_Seems to go nowhere _  
_And I've lost my light _  
_For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night _

_Once I ran to you _  
_Now I'll run from you _  
_This tainted love you've given _  
_I give you all a boy could give you _  
_Take my tears and that's not nearly all _  
_Oh...tainted love _  
_Tainted love _

_~ Tainted Love- Soft Cell_

* * *

"I hate my life." I ripped the brush through my tangled mess of a bedhead, staring at myself in the mirror. _"Why Pepper?" _I asked myself in a deep and masculine voice. Taking a washcloth and wetting it, I replied to no one, "Because I had unprotected sex with a guy I met only a few weeks ago." I cleaned my face with the ice cold washcloth, rubbing out the rest of my drowsiness.

_"Well, gee, Pepper, why the hell did you do that?"_ As I reached into the medicine cabinet, I noticed the giant blue bags under my eyes. Sleeping had always come so easy to me, due to all of the energy I would waste in the daytime. Waking up from reacurring nightmares had robbed me of my precious sleep, and I was exhasuted.

"Because," I answered, grabbing my contacts. "He was seducing me. Have you ever been seduced?"

_"Can't say I have." _

I carefully placed one contact on the tip of my pointer finger. "Well, it was horrible. It was like he was mind controlling me. Maybe he was. Maybe he got some technology from A.I.M. and he sent telepathic messages to my subconcious telling me that..." I realized that I didn't have the energy to rant at myself, so I stopped.

My finger slowly made it's way to my eye, and I put in my left contact.

_"Pepper, you are a stupid _slut!" As strange as it sounds, I cringed at my own words. _"What'll you do if you get pregnant? Huh! What will you tell you dad? Or Rhodey? Or TONY?"_

I stared at myself in the mirror, not sure who I saw anymore. "I don't know..." I whispered.

Did I see Pepper? The happy-go-lucky teenage girl who was young at heart and had a crazy hyperactive side.

Or was I looking at Pepper? The girl who had disturbing nightmares of children burning in buildings, who would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, making her father swear not to tell anybody. The girl who willingly had sex with someone she had known for the shortest amount of time. The girl who _might_ be _pregnant_. The girl who was in love with two people at once.

With a shaking hand, I reached for my other contact. I had almost gotten it in my eye when...

"PATRICIA POTTS!"

"AAAAH!" I jabbed my right eye with my finger, screaming again. The contact dropped to the floor with a quite _plop!_ and I pressed my hand aginst my eye.

"WHAT DAD?"

"You're gonna be late for school!" He shouted through the door. "It's already seven fourty!"

I exploded out of the bathroom, clutching my eye. My dad staggered back a few feet. "Is everything okay...?"

I ran downstairs, pulled on a brown hoodie, grabbed my backpack and flew out of the house.

For the second time in three days I was running through New York like a wild animal. I had my hand pressed against the right side of my face, my backpack was jingling from all the key chains attached to it, and it wasn't until I reached The Tomorrow Academy that I realized my sweatshirt was on backwards.

The bell rang just as I ran into Spanish.

Mrs. Kollmer glanced up from her desk. "Good to see you made it in time, Patricia. Please take your seat." The fact that Mrs. Kollmer never actually spoke spanish didn't fail to irratate me, and I took my seat next to Happy. He immediately burst into his booming laughter, and he put his hand over one of his eyes and waved at me.

I couldn't help but smile, and I took my hand off.

Ohh boy.

I only had one contact in.

I forgot.

* * *

I dialed Tony's number again, but still, he was not answering his phone.

Mom had called me early this morning, saying that Tony was not going to school.

"Why?" I asked, images of Tony jumping out his bedroom window zooming threw my mind.

_"I think he has the flu. He's just getting really sick, so I was wondering if maybe you could call Pepper and have her bring him something to eat later. See if he needs anything, just until I get back from work."_

"No!" I said quickly. Too quickly. I could literally hear my mother's lawyer mind start to assess the situation.

_"Why? What's wrong? Are the two of you upset with her or something...?"_

"No..." If there was anything, _anything_ I couldn't do, it was lie to my mother. And if there was anyone I was afraid of... it was her.

"She's sick too!" I blurted. "Yeah, umm, Tony probably got the flu from Pepper!" I laughed nervously.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. I held my breath, hoping she would buy it.

_"Well... okay, I guess I can get out of work early. Just call him once and a while to see if he's okay-"_

"Alright Mom! Bye!" I hung up.

Tony hadn't picked up the phone once.

I was extremely worried about him. Tony was hurt now, but later he would be pissed. I wasn't sure who he would direct his anger toward. Me, Pepper, or Blake.

_I _was angry with Blake. More angry than I had ever been at anyone in my entire life.

First, he had sex with my best friend. My female best friend. Pepper was like my sister, and everyone knows that there is nothing worse than knowing someone is screwing around with your sister.

Second, because he slept with Pepper, that caused Tony to lose his mind and his temper. I was positive he had broken the computer at this point (after a lot of thinking about how Tony would react to seeing what he saw, throwing a computer is the best answer I could come up with), and that was Blake's fault too.

Actually, now that I thought about it, ever since Blake had arrived at The Tomorrow Academy everything had gone downhill.

* * *

I sat up in bed at around _6:30_ in the morning. With a tired yawn, I stretched my arms and rubbed my eyes. I swung my legs around and stood up.

What was I forgetting?

I felt this itch at the back of my conscience taht was telling me to lye back down- to just go back to bed. That getting ready for school wasn't even worth attempting.

I remembered when I stepped on a shard of metal from my computer.

A blast of memories from last nights events brought me crashing back down to hell- and then I felt it. This sick, disgusting feeling gurgling around in my stomache. It quickly made it's way up my throat, and I ran for the bathroom.

Roberta found me vomitting in the toilet ten minutes later. She brought me a glass of water and told me I wasn't going to school.

'Trust me,' I thought. 'I wasn't going anyways.'

Roberta stayed home an extra hour, but upon realizing that I wasn't leaving the bathroom and that she had an important buisness meeting, she told me to call her if I needed anything and left.

I didn't feel anything.

Not really. Nothing except the cold, slimy feeling in the pit of my stomache.

What was there to feel? Anger? That would come later. I had anger, just no one to direct it at yet. Betrayel. I hadn't been betrayed. Pepper wasn't _my_ girlfriend. She was my friend- no, she was my sister.

But was she?

I didn't know. I didn't know anything anymore. I didn't know if Blake had helped re-engineer technovore, I didn't know if I could run the company, I didn't know if Whitney and I- Ohh boy. Whitney.

She seemed like the least important thing in my life right now. What would I do about her?

I knew what I had to do, but I didn't like it.

When my waves of nausea finally ended, I collapsed on the bathroom floor and passed out.

* * *

Whitney Stane was just climbing into the back of her limo when her cell phone went off.

She shut the door behind her and rolled up the soundproof window between her and the limo driver.

"Who is it?" Asked the person sitting beside her. She held up a finger as she checked the collar ID.

She cleared her throat, practiced a few different ways to answer her phone, and then finally flipped it open. "Hi Tony, what's up? Why weren't you in school today?"

_"I- err, I was sick..." _Came the nervous reply on the other end of the line.

"Ohh," said Whitney. "How do you feel _now?"_

Tony hesitated, hearing the slight purr in her voice.

"Cause if you don't feel good," Whitney breathed into the reciever. "I could... come over help you get better." The person next to her gave her an incredolous glare.

Whitney heard an extremely long pause, and then Tony said,_ "Uhh... see, that's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about."_

"I really can come over and we can talk at your place..."

_"No," _Tony said quickly. _"I have to talk to you _now."

Whitney blinked in surprise. "Ohh. Well, go ahead."

Static rippled through the line as Tony took a deep breath.

_"Whitney, you and I have been going out for a few months now..."_

"Yeah," Whitney said. "You know our three month aniversery is next week, right?"

An awkward laugh was heard. _"Well, Whitney I think you're a great person,"_

"I love you too!"

_"You're very smart..."_

"We looked _so_ good together in _Star Magazine_!"

_"And I really just want the best for you."_

"I want the best for me too!"

_"But I think we should break up."_

"I think we should- wait, what?"

The line crackled again as Tony sighed. _"Whitney, I really didn't want to do this over the phone. Trust me, I would have much rather done this in person. But, lately I have been..."_ Tony paused as he searched for the right words. _"having feelings for a different person... It just didn't feel right going out with you anymore..."_

The person next to Whitney snatched the phone away from her. "You said you were going to break up with him!" He shouted. "You said we wouldn't have to do this anymore!"

Whitney said calmly, "Gene, Tony just did it _for_ me. Now, please, give me back my phone."

Gene reluctantly handed Whitney back her cell phone.

Whitney put her ear to the phone.

_"... and I just really hope we can still be friends. Okay?"_

"Yeah, it's totally cool."

Tony didn't say anything for a minute. _"Really?"_

"Uh-hu. I mean, no one's perfect. We all make mistakes." Whitney had started to inch her way closer and closer to Gene. "Just some are a bit more immature than others."

_"I'm sorry, again Whitney. I know you would never to anything like this to me, and it just makes me feel guilty."_

"I understand Tony. Now, let's leave this relationship like mature adults, and keep our pride." Whitney had reached Gene at this point, and he had rapped his arms around her.

_"Yeah,"_ Tony agreed thoughtfully. _"Our pride."_

"I'll see you in school then,"

___"Okay, Whitney, thanks for taking this so well."_

Whitney hung up the phone and threw herself at Gene Kahn.

* * *

"You were supposed to kill her!"

"Kill her! How was I supposed to do that!"

"You know you could have..."

Silence followed. The two men glared at each other with hostility. The young man straightened and he crossed his arms in front of himself.

"What you did though," Said the elder as he turned in his computer chair and faced the wall of monitors. "was genius enough that it sent Stark into a frenzy. I'm not sure how stable he is at this point."

In one of the monitors you could see a replaying image of the young genius smashing his desktop computer into bits and practically falling unconscious on his bed.

"Well," Snarled the teenager, "what will you have me do now?"

**it's not that this story doesn't have flow, it just changes points of views a lot. if you can't deal with it, then go read a different story. there are at lest one hundred and forty of them now. so go, leave. but if there are more views on this chapter than reviews... someone, will die... goodbye.**


	12. Chapter 12

**I feel a strong sense of duty to this story, so don't be surprised if I poop out a chapter once in a while.**

* * *

**I'm a rolling thunder, a pouring rain**  
**I'm comin' on like a hurricane**  
**My lightning's flashing across the sky**  
**You're only young but you're gonna die**

**~ACDC, Hells Bells**

* * *

It wasn't easy being the bad guy.

Quite honestly I'm not sure if that's the correct term. I'm still having a hard time figuring out the difference between scared, lonely and confused. Emotions are a difficult thing to understand.

A cool breeze sends shivers down my spine. I don't like it. I hate feelings.

I walk down the dark path and try to sort through all of these new sensations. Unconsciously, I bring my hand up to touch the trees and plants I pass. I've been doing it a lot lately. I want to know what everything feels like.

The bright lights and sounds that come with night in New York fade away as I venture deeper into Central Park. I encounter no one on the trail. It's not surprising, people are usually sleep at three in the morning.

Not me. I never sleep. Don't see the need for it, really.

Turning off the trail, I stomp through foliage and brush as I clear a new path for myself.

I exhale sharply when I slice my hand on a thorn bush. It hurts, and again I feel like I am carrying a million tons on my shoulders. Why don't I like the pain? Is it supposed to feel this way? In an effort to try to ignore the questions that this feeling brings, I run through the woods, and finally stumble upon my safe haven.

The only thing that has kept me sane the past few months has been this place. Had it not been for my discovery of the small cliff I would have surely killed myself. A forgotten hill holds the stone boulders that rest upon the very top. Beyond that you can see trees, and the towering structures of the city. Someone used to visit here frequently. There are still traces of human activity.

With a heavy sigh (a habit I picked up from other people) I collapse onto the cool granite and lay back, gazing into the heavens. Most of my frustration drains out of me. I am a blank slate. I think of nothing, except the bright glow of the constellations. Is this the feeling of peace?

I whistle a tune a heard earlier. I do it all the time now, I like the way it feels.

I've been thinking about God a lot lately. Obsessing over the idea, actually. I can't decide if there is such a thing as a creator. Every practical, modern scientist would say no. They could explain every existence in the universe, down to each amoeba. I could, too. Take Tony Stark as an example. I bet my left arm he doesn't believe in God. Other than being a child prodigy, who would believe in God after being in a plane crash, and having your only parent die in said crash? Then there's the whole Iron Man responsibility that's been thrust upon him. If there was a God, he wouldn't have to go around saving the world. That would be my first thought if I were him.

But then there's the big question; Why? Why did this all happen? The big bang theory aside. There are many people who ignore all the explanations and arguments, those who have faith and an open mind. Pepper believes in God. She told me once.

Pepper.

Just thinking of the fiery girl sends a wave of confusing emotions crashing into me.

I didn't even ask. Should I have asked? Do people do that? Would it have mattered? No, it wouldn't have, it was an order. _Order._ With that word a seething hatred comes. I know this feeling, I experience it constantly.

I feel like smashing my head against the rock. These emotions are eating me alive. What does she think of me now? I know I shouldn't, but I care so much it hurts. Is she suspicious? Tony is, but I know she isn't, she's so oblivious it's disgusting how much we take advantage of her. It's working though, I see the way Stark looks at me.

This one feeling I understand. It took me awhile to figure it out, but I realized a few days ago what it was that made me feel... this way.

It's this horrible, suffocating guilt.

I breathe in deeply, trying to calm myself down.

There are many emotions I feel. Most of them are not pleasant. But the few I actually enjoy feeling are always floating around inside me when I'm with Pepper Potts

She makes me feel... happy? I think. I hope. I never know what to say or how to act, but around Pepper I don't need to. She does it all for me. Talking is her strong suit, and she helps me understand the world. She's so deluded and care free, it makes me feel _happy_ for her. I'm sure it does.

A shooting star catches me off guard. It zooms across the starry sky before vanishing behind a cloud.

If there is a God, Pepper Potts is going to heaven. She deserves it. Anyone that empathetic, kind of heart and free is an already guaranteed _yes_ come Judgment day.

I stand up and stretch, my strange limbs bothering me for the second time today. I glance up at the stars one more time before I make my short hike through the woods again.

Walking along the dirt path, I try not to think of all the wrong I've done in the past few months. All the lives I've ruined, all the people I've hurt. Everything I've done has been an order. Even so, that word doesn't justify anything at all. I don't even know if I count, but if I do, all my wrong doings have added up and what they equal is not something I am happy to admit. I think what I feel when I think about it is fear.

A one way ticket to Hell.

* * *

**Hey, I haven't updated in 9 months so it's understandable if you don't review**


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